A study on changes in tiles of the south iwan in Atiq Jame mosque in Isfahan after restoration activities between 1938 and 1951

One of the most important historical architecture in Iran is Atiq Jame mosque in Isfahan which contains large variety of structures and decorations from different eras. Due to this it is called as the encyclopedia of Islamic Architecture in Iran. This building is also important and valuable from the point of view of interventions during the time. The firs decades of contemporary history were a turning point in history of restoration and conservation in Iran. These years were starting of modern restoration and have been imitated during the next years. So review of these interventions is necessary to improve our today restoration activities based on principles such as the minimal intervention and conserving the authenticity. In case on the south Iwan in Jame Atiq mosque there was not any written document of the damages and the interventions. So these questions arise that what damages had this Iwan had before the interventions of the years between 1938-51 and how did it change after the restorations? To answer these questions historical visual documents from the elevation of the south Iwan were gathered and the texts related to the restoration activities were read. Then the photos were sorted based on the time. In next step the documents were compared to the current situation and the changes were found. One of the most important results is finding the name of the calligrapher. After the survey and study of the interventions, it can be deduced that those interventions were more than it was needed and to somehow personal. It seems the interventions were done without considering photos of the previous situation of the building. This article emphasizes on the importance of surveying and criticizing of historical visual documents to improve the restoration interventions with conserving of the authenticity.