Concept of education and its effects on architecture of mosque-schools in qajars era

Education is one of the most important issues in any society and has a decisive role in promoting the level of knowledge of individuals and the growth of culture in that society. In the past, the duty and responsibility of schools was mostly religious education. Schools were built as one of the main pillars of urban organizations by various strata, such as scholars and teachers, kings and the rich, and in addition to their religious educational function, they often played a socio-political role. Took over. The school is a project to meet the needs of the Islamic community. The school was a custom building created to serve an institution that was itself an innovation in education. In addition, the school was the creation of a kind of entrenched civilization that brought new achievements to society. In the past, the core of the islamic education was in the mosques; because the first places which were used in the early islamic centuries for education were the mosques. Accordingly, the mosque have historically functioned as places of muslims gatherings and acquiring knowledge.The present study investigates development of the religion-educational centers, i.e. the school-mosques; and since majority of these centers were built in Qajars Era.

the statistical population of the study consists of the school-mosques built in this period. The verify used in this research is historical commentary and the analysis of the buildings is done with the logical reasoning method. Historical documents and literature library resources have been used to collect information. In this paper, three of the school-mosques of Qajar Dynasty have been selected through purposeful samplivg in order to study the concept of education.

The concept of education and educational methods have changed during Qajar Era; and these changes in the concept of education have led to diversity of forms and changes in architecture of the schools. These changes are evident in plan, internal functions of the building, including changes made to the entrance system, courtyard, and number and quality of the dorms.

The concept of education in the Qajar period took a more general approach than in previous eras and was freed from the monopoly of the aristocracy and nobles. This not only led to the expansion and development of schools in terms of scale and number; but also caused the formation of living spaces and rooms with higher number and quality in Qajar schools. In the traditional period, schools have a completely traditional architecture. Sardar, Sepahsalar and Aghabzorg schools are examples of this period. The model of these schools includes a central courtyard with a number of rooms around it that has an educational-residential structure. The general approach in Qajar schools caused these schools to play an essential role in social activities, and even some religious ceremonies and prayers for the general public were formed there. This led to a change in the entry system and the creation of separate entrances for students and ordinary people. The courtyard is of special importance in the architecture of Qajar schools. The school yard provides a refreshing, eye-catching and relaxing space for students using plants, trees and a pool of water. These courtyards have sometimes even been the subject of debate and teaching.