Iranian architecture

Iranian architecture, also called Persian architecture, covers the building traditions of Iran as well as parts of West Asia, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. Its recorded history goes back to at least 5000 BC, with notable examples spread from Turkey and Iraq to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. The buildings range widely in size and purpose, from everyday vernacular structures to large monumental complexes. Alongside historic gates, palaces, and mosques, the rapid expansion of cities—especially the capital, Tehran—has led to widespread demolition and new construction.

The American historian and archaeologist Arthur Pope argued that architecture has always been Iran’s supreme art, in the truest sense of the word. This holds for both pre-Islamic and Islamic periods. Iranian architecture shows great variety in structure and appearance, drawing on many traditions and experiences. It developed a recognizable style, distinct from other parts of the Muslim world, without sudden innovations and despite repeated invasions and cultural shocks. Its strengths include a strong sense of form and scale, structural inventiveness—especially in vaults and domes—and a genius for decoration that is freer and more successful than in any other architecture.

**General characteristics**

**Fundamental principles** Traditional Iranian architecture has maintained a continuous style, even when temporarily disrupted by internal political conflicts or foreign invasions. Arthur Pope described it this way: there are no trivial buildings; even garden pavilions have nobility and dignity, and the humblest caravanserais generally have charm. Most Persian buildings are clear and eloquent in expression and communication. The combination of intensity and simplicity of form gives them immediacy, while ornament and often subtle proportions reward close observation.

According to scholars Nader Ardalan and Laleh Bakhtiar, the guiding motif of Iranian architecture has been cosmic symbolism, by which people are brought into communication and participation with the powers of heaven. This theme has given unity and continuity to Iran’s architecture and has been a primary source of its emotional character.

**Materials** Available building materials have shaped the major forms of traditional Iranian architecture. Heavy clays, found in many places across the plateau, encouraged the most primitive building technique: molded mud, compressed as solidly as possible and left to dry. This method, used in Iran since ancient times, has never been completely abandoned. The abundance of heavy plastic earth, combined with a tenacious lime mortar, also made possible the development and use of brick.

**Design** Certain design elements have persisted throughout Iran’s architectural history. The most striking are a marked sense of scale and a careful use of simple, massive forms. Other recurring features include a consistent preference for decoration, a high-arched portal set within a recess, columns with bracket capitals, and repeated types of plan and elevation. Over the centuries, these elements have appeared in very different kinds of buildings, built for various purposes and under many rulers.

The columned porch, or talar, seen in rock-cut tombs near Persepolis, reappears in Sassanid temples and, in late Islamic times, was used as the portico of a palace or mosque and even adapted for roadside tea-houses. Similarly, the dome on four arches, so characteristic of Sassanid times, can still be found in many cemeteries and Imamzadehs across Iran today. The idea of earthly towers reaching up toward the sky to mingle with divine towers lasted into the 19th century, while the interior court and pool, the angled entrance, and extensive decoration are ancient but still common features.

**City planning** A circular city plan was characteristic of several major Parthian and Sasanian cities, such as Hatra and Gor (Firuzabad). Another design, based on a square geometry, was found in Eastern Iranian cities like Bam and Zaranj.

**Categorization of styles** Mohammad Karim Pirnia categorized the traditional architecture of the Iranian lands into six classes or styles:

Zoroastrian: - The Parsian style (up to the third century BCE), including: - Pre-Parsian style (up to the eighth century BCE), e.g., Chogha Zanbil - Median style (eighth to sixth century BCE) - Achaemenid style (sixth to fourth century BCE), seen in spectacular cities for governance and habitation (Persepolis, Susa, Ecbatana), temples for worship and social gatherings (Zoroastrian temples), and mausoleums for fallen kings (Tomb of Cyrus the Great) - The Parthian style includes designs from: - Seleucid era, e.g., Anahita Temple, Khorheh - Parthian era, e.g., Hatra, royal compounds at Nisa - Sasanian era, e.g., Ghal'eh Dokhtar, Taq Kasra, Bishapur, Darband (Derbent)

Islamic: - The Khorasani style (late 7th to end of 10th century CE), e.g., Jameh Mosque of Nain and Jameh Mosque of Isfahan - The Razi style (11th century to the Mongol invasion), including: - Samanid period, e.g., Samanid Mausoleum - Ziyarid period, e.g., Gonbad-e Qabus - Seljuk period, e.g., Kharraqan towers - The Azari style (late 13th century to the appearance of the Safavid dynasty in the 16th century), e.g., Soltaniyeh, Arg of Tabriz, Jameh Mosque of Varamin, Goharshad Mosque, Bibi-Khanym Mosque in Samarkand.