Retrieving the Original Image of Bagh-e Shah of Ashraf Al-Belad (Behshahr) in Different Historic Periods

In Safavid era, some royal gardens have been created in Ashraf Al-Belad, a city that was established to replace an old residential village, in north of Iran which some traces of them are remained to the present time. One of these gardens is Bagh-e Shah that was built by Shah Abbas Safavi as Divan-Khaneh, a place for visiting ambassadors, contemporary with Ashraf Al-Belad’s foundation. However, development of cities, their non-normative and partly uncontrollable updates, causes changes in the historic buildings’ view. Taking historic monuments into consideration as important urban elements, which give identity to the cities, is one of the best ideas for developing old cities. A modern developed city can be successful in introducing its authenticity as much as possible by revealing the concealed values of such monuments. Nonetheless, when modern urban movements began in Iran, authenticity of these monuments was sacrificed for improving function in some cases. Such negligence could be more important when planned around some organic monuments such as gardens, which changes their features or ultimately even destructs its construction. It is clear that inattentiveness to historic and esthetic values of such monuments in urban planning exposes them to destruction risk. This problem is so important for historic gardens, because of their organic construction. On the other hand, elements that form the features of a garden are inevitably so changeable themselves. Withering of flowers, fading of trees and growing of unwanted wild plans are some of such damages, which can convert features of a garden due to carelessness. So, this historic garden has been changed in its long life such extensively that today, it seems to be a modern park rather than a Persian garden. Bagh-e Shah which was established by Shah Abbas in Ashraf al-Belad, changed during its life frequently. It was burned In Afghan's invasion, rebuilt by Nader Shah-e Afshar, and repaired in Qajar era substantially. Nonetheless, its geometric order, aged trees array and irrigation system etc. which remained until now, remind us of a general image of a Persian garden. Meanwhile, conservation and urban planning without considering the original construction of this garden can induce an incorrect perception of its true nature. On the other hand, inattentiveness to such noteworthy historic gardens and converting their features to a modern park result in irreparable damage and elimination vestiges of its genuine face as a document of historic background of the city. Therefore, Bagh-e shah as an important sample of Safavid gardening tradition and also as one of the characteristic elements of the city, is an important subject. Though major parts of the garden have changed, it is assumed that retrieving its main form and structure is still possible based on remained documents and literature. Since new features of Bagh-e Shah has created an illusory imagination of it, this paper has tried to provide the general shape and true structure of this garden by surveying the remained parts of it and studying the historical documents and literature that has discussed about this garden. In fact, this paper tries to identify the original features of this garden and its evolution over the time according to field research and historical documents.