Some of the tiles on the dome of the Masjid-e Shah in Isfahan have recently been reported to be ‘creeping’ downwards. I recently realised that this is what is visible in a photo I took of the dome in spring 2008. Until now, I confess that I had thought it was a fault in my …
The Masjid-e Jame in Isfahan was not the only congregational mosque in Buyid Isfahan: the Jurjir mosque was constructed sometime shortly before 985CE for the vizier Ibn Abbad, a Mutazilite scholar who transformed the court of the ruler Abu Mansur Moayyed-al-Dawla into a transnational literary centre. Only a fragment of the façade of the latter …
This week, an amazing old Negah video showing all the stages of Ghalam-kari (also called qalamkari or wood-block printing), including the preparation of the cloth [@ 2.50 minutes], the first rinse [3.00], the printing [3.40 and 6.30]; and the carving of the blocks [5.55]. The video says [1.00] that the craft started in the time …
When Shah Abbas walked along the Khurasan Highroad on his way to Mashhad in 1601, one of the places he stopped at is recorded by Munajjim Yazdi as Ribat-i Qusha (the fort at Qusha: 601km from Isfahan). A dervish named Kamal had walked with the Shah from Kashan and, around Qusha, Kamal is reported to …
Siavash queried the architectural origins of the Chini-kana, in one of his (thankyou, Siavash!) interesting comments. I thought I’d add a note about this, drawing on AH Morton’s very helpful paper, “The Ardabīl Shrine in the Reign of Shāh Ṭahmāsp I”. Iran Vol. 12 (1974), pp. 31-64 AHM reports that ME Weaver, a UNESCO consultant …
Some of you may already have noticed that UNESCO inscribed the Sheikh Safi al-din Khānegāh and Shrine Ensemble in Ardabil on its World Heritage list on 31 July 2010. In the citation, it was described as a “rare ensemble of medieval Islamic architecture”; incorporating a route to reach the shrine of Sheikh Safi “divided into …
Shortly after I returned home from tracing Shah Abbas’ thousand kilometre walk from Isfahan to Mashhad, I found this extraordinary (1907) photo of the citadel in Lasjird (40km west of Semnan), converted as it had been into an elevated, fortified village. Lasjird was the only place specifically mentioned as having a fortress in an unpublished …
John Cartwright, always called ‘The Preacher’ despite never having been recorded as doing any preaching, is one of the lesser known travellers in the Persia of Shah Abbas. Usefully for me, finding out about Isfahan and Shah Abbas at or before the time the 1000km walk started in 1601, Cartwright left England in April 1600. …
When Abbas Mirza seized power from his father in 1587 to become Shah Abbas the First, he inherited a country in crisis. As well as securing his external borders – initially in yearly campaigns against the Uzbegs – he had to struggle to create internal order. As part of that, in 1590 he went on …
When I very first came to Isfahan, years ago and on an overnight bus from Shiraz, the early morning darkness of cold suburbs and dull office blocks was suddenly transformed into a softly-illuminated miracle of supreme architectural beauty as we clattered over the splendid 33-span bridge constructed by Allahverdi Khan. I remember gazing out, sleepily …