دکتر امیر حسین کریمی

Basing on the archaeological evidences, making stucco and glass latticework windows in Iran dates back to the tenth century AD in Nishapur. One of the methods for making this kind of windows is making two-layered perforated stucco with colorful glasses, which is the subject of current study based on analysis and observations on two historical stucco and glass windows preserved in the ICHTO office of Isfahan. Current study uses optical observation and laboratory tests on two cases of historical two-layered perforated stucco windows to characterize the method of work. Wet chemical tests, FTIR spectroscopy, FE-SEM and XRF analysis used on the samples. Results showed the requirement of use of a wooden frame for more stability during forming in big size windows and starting the work on a rigid backing probably covered with oil as release agent. Two layers of gypsum mortar used in this process, which one is more watery and mixed with an organic material to slow down the setting process. After pouring mortar and the first phase of setting, stucco master used a compass to draw the main geometric lines. Then the first layer removed and the master made finer motifs on the second layer inside the frames made by thicker arms of stucco. The last phase was adhering colorful glasses with a gypsum-adhesive paste on the back of perforated part after removing the rigid backing. Coating the window with oil to reduce the vulnerability of gypsum against humidity is a finishing process after setting of mortar. Evidence of oil showed in FTIR analysis on the extracted samples.

After the inscription of the historical city of Yazd on the world heritage list in 2017, more emphasis was put on the preservation of historical monuments within its urban structure. Simultaneously, more effort was made to carry out different types of monitoring to protect the authenticity of historical monuments. This study, using a qualitative and interpretative approach, researches the role of historical monitoring as a method to assess the authenticity of the architectural revetments of Seyyed Rokn ad-Din Madrasa (or Rukniyya), which is one of the most important monuments of this city. The history of interventions based on the principles of world heritage preservation as well as the history of deteriorating factors that altered the building is documented in this research. For this, after defining the concept of historical monitoring, this paper documents the damages, repairs, and interventions that occurred in the Rukniyya. Content analysis of these documents was carried out to identify the risk critical points and finally to draw the timeline of the restorations of the architectural revetments to assess their authenticity. According to these documents, significant damages in the Rukniyya include cracks, structural damages caused by the digging of wells in the periphery of the building and the subsequent moisture, and termite activity inside the building. Outside, the destruction of the main arch of the iwan, structural interventions, and the falling of dome tiles due to natural conditions specifically on its western side are among the major damages. The damaging factors should be considered in terms of activity levels in future conservation plans. For the purpose of authenticity assessment, the findings of the investigation differentiate authentic parts from later alterations in this building. The inner shell of the dome, the end wall of the iwan, and the tile inscription on the dome stem are materially authentic and date from the Muzaffarid period. The motifs and material components of the iwan and its facade as well as the tiles on the outer shell of the dome are interventions of the past fifty years. These parts were reconstructed based on the architectural style of the fourteenth century, imitating the tilework patterns in the Shahab ad-Din Qassem Madrasa, Shamsiyyeh Madrasa, and the Jame‘ Mosque of Yazd. The purpose of such interventions was to preserve the physical and functional features of the building and improve its legibility. Although the reconstructed and renovated parts are interesting in terms of restoration works, they do not have historical or archeological value and cannot be referenced as Muzaffarid-style artwork. The findings of the study show that two separate conservation plans are required for each of these two parts of the building providing clear and transparent decisions.

The Jami‘ Mosque of Bam has gone through a long process of transformations including restoration, reconstruction, and renovation.  Much of these works were hidden inside the physical form until the earthquake of 2003 uncovered important structures, among them, the original portal and the flanking twin minarets. These findings question the previously accepted timeline for the mosque and pose new questions that had not been discussed previously. The objective of this paper is to introduce the original form of the portal and locating its modifications on the timeline of the mosque according to a descriptive-analytical method. On the basis of remaining evidence such as architectural remnants, mudbrick sizes, the height of imposts, the thickness of the flanking pillars, and the diameter of the minarets’ shafts, the entrance portal is dated to the fourteenth century AD, very similar to other Muzaffarid and Timurid portals that are high and lofty.

Seyedun or Seyedun Ali Naghia tomb is located in Nebadan district of Abarghu. This clay monument is a tall dome chamber on the exterior cover of whose dome there are bricks as well as blue and azure tiles. The interior dado is also covered by tiles and the underneath surfaces are decorated with clay Muqarnas, inscriptions and slight painting ornaments. A vast part of the dome cover crumpled probably in 1330sSH (1950s AD) and was renovated some decades later. This building is a mosque attributed to 9th century (AH) called masjid-hosseiniyeh or hosseiniyeh of Nebadan. A small part of it which is part of the attached installations has just remained. It has had an altar whose direction confirmed to the skew Qibla of the congregational mosque and masjidhosseiniyeh of Abarghu. No dated inscription or including the founder name one can be found there. Seyedun Ali Naghia has been briefly inspected in the previous references and is attributed to 8th century (AH) based on Donald Wilber and Godard’s dating while it has been attributed to 6th- 8th centuries (AH) in the national registration file. In this research we try to date the tomb through investigating related documents, its structure and also the comparative inspection conducted during the preparation period of the renovation plan. In addition, we look for the answer to the question whether it was constructed in one single era and when it was built. Its initial function is another issue to be investigated. The dado tiles order, the way of drawing and embellishing Kufic handwriting of the inscriptions and the way of creating squinches in this monument to a great extent resemble 8th century monuments of Yazd and Isfahan. Moreover, the content of the verses written on the inscriptions which alludes to the burial use of them, in addition to above-mentioned traits, arouse the strong possibility of this monument being built as a tomb and for burial purposes. Both the structure and the ornaments are very similar to the damaged tomb of Hasan Ebn-Keikhosro (with an inscription dated 707-718 AH). Since the construction date of that tomb is known, it is likely that Seyedun Ali Naghia was also built in the first quarter of 8th century; the era during which king Mobarez Al-Din could overcome Yazd and Meibod that led to the reign of Mozaffarian dynasty to start. In addition, based on its similarities to 8th century monuments like Seyedun Golsorkhi and Hasan Ebn-Keikhosro domes and through investigating Jame’ Al-kheirat endowment in which Nebadan desert of Abarghu has been mentioned, we conceive that the mentioned buildings were all made in one single era with the fund of a famous figure who might belong to Seyed Rokn Al-Din family. Through investigating the structure of Seyedun Ali Naghia no trace of two different eras was found which leads us to the strong possibility that all of them were constructed in one single era. The content of the inscriptions read in this research for the first time, are Quran-related. We can foresee that more evidences particularly of the original forms of dome covers ornaments would be obtained through future renovations which might in turn reveal other aspects of the monument history.

Three-dimensional tools are widely used for various purposes, particularly Three- dimensional printers which play a great role in simplification and acceleration of phases in production process for various fields ranging from medicine to industry.
Due to the problems related to the reconstruction of missing parts in restoration of historic glass objects in the methods of molding, casting and formation of reconstructed parts, the present research, aiming to propose an efficient method within this process has suggested 3D printer as a tool with the least intervention and destruction and also high accuracy and as a substitute to the current methods. Research questions are as follows: How is the condition of 3D reconstruction facilities for missing parts of glass objects in Iran? What are the technical and practical advantages and disadvantages of 3D printer in this process? How is the strength and yellowing quality of suggested polymers for reconstruction?
The research finalized through verifying both current and 3D technology methods for reconstruction of missing parts. The compared methods include: filling with Epoxy and also Acrylic resin, Plexiglas and PETE methods as suggestions. Samples were tested for yellowing and Pin on disk. The results showed that Acrylic resin in 3D printer is a proper substitute for reconstruction of the missing parts of glass objects, and Plexiglas using 3D technology method (laser and CNC) is also ranked as the second.

Sukias house is located in Tabriziha neighborhood, Isfahan, Iran. Investigators have revealed that this historical house has been built during Shah Abbas II (r. 1632-1666). One of the most important decorations of this building is its historical wall paintings. The paint layer of wall painting is generally composed of pigments, organic binding media and other additives. Characterization of the binding media is a challenging problem in cultural heritage due to the presence of complex materials structure of wall paintings. The principal aim of this work is to overcome the spectral interferences for interpretation of FTIR spectra obtained from wall paintings samples. A set of calibration samples were prepared in a similar way to the strata of a real wall painting from lowest to highest complexity. Sampling from the Sukias house was accomplished as well. Each sample was analyzed by FTIR spectroscopy and spectral data set was processed by chemometrics approaches. Binding medium of Sukias house was identified as egg yolk. Results are promising in the sense that SIMCA could be useful to mine the complex FTIR spectra and characterize binding media in wall paintings which is very time-consuming and challenging by regular methods of analysis.

Micro-Raman spectroscopy is recently advocated to be used for the identification of organic mediums of paintings although it is mainly used for identifying artists’ pigments. The current paper presents an effort for estimating the feasibility of micro-Raman spectroscopy for identifying Persian binding mediums used in historical paintings. To do so, samples were prepared in two main groups based on previous studies and the most popular Persian binding mediums; i.e., pure binding mediums and binding mediums mixed with red lead. Pure samples were themselves divided in three groups of carbohydrates, proteins and drying oils and were studied in 800-1800 cm-1 and 2500-3300 cm-1 regions. Results showed that micro-Raman spectroscopy can be more efficient in 2500-3500 cm-1 zone as most of pigments exhibit no Raman signal in this region. Moreover, the Raman spectrum of sarcocolla gum is provided in this article for the first time. This paper strongly suggests micro-Raman spectroscopy for identifying binding mediums used in Persian paintings.

One of important aspects in the field of Art technology and conservation of Persian historical paintings is the characterization of binder (or binding medium) used in paints. The basic rule in this field is identification of historic materials without destruction of the works or the sample taken from them. ATR-FTIR (attenuated total reflectance-FTIR) is one of the common non destructive methods for characterizing organic materials in paintings. In this paper samples prepared using common binders of Persian paintings, have been tested for the evaluation of ATR-FTIR method. In the second step real historic samples have been tested. Results showed that the method is efficient in classification of binders (to hydrocarbon, protein and drying oil groups), but is not perfectly successful in detailed identification. Detailed research needs other test methods. J. Color Sci. Tech. 8(2014), 27-36©. Institute for Color Science and Technology.

Various ideas can be found about the date of construction and the function of portal and twin minarets of Abarkouh so that some researchers consider it as the door way of Nizamieh mosque whereas others consider it as a part of a great complex. However, there are ambiguities about the history and function of this monument. The main questions of this paper are about these two points. Afshar has attributed this monument to Nizam-ol-Molk-e Abarqui, a famous writer of Abarkooh in 14th century. Considering inscriptions of other monuments in the region and comparing with historical documents, this paper aims to reveal some points about the history and function of the destroyed monument to which this portal belongs. Moreover, the structure and decorations of the portal have been compared with other historical twin minarets. Regarding the lack of dated inscription on the portal, main evidence is the inscription of Biroon mosque near Abarkouh which has implications about the constructions near the portal. Finally, it has been revealed that the monument can be part of a mosque related to Tavousieh shrine. Comparing decorations and structure of this monument with other similar twin minarets in Persian architecture (like Qiyasiyeh in Qom and Oshtorgan mosque), it can be attributed to 14th century and to the son of Nizam-ol-Molk-e Abarqui who was a courtier of Shah Shoja’ (Muzaffarid dynasty) as his patron

Sufi monasteries and tombs of mystics have always been respectable in Iranian culture. These places have been used for teaching and learning cycles, and also as shelters for helpless people. Among them is the tomb of Pir-Hamzeh Sabzpoosh in Abarkuh. Unlike the plain outer surfaces of the building, the inner surfaces are adorned with different kinds of stucco decoration, several coloured medallions, and a dado. However, the stuccoed mihrab, which is related to the sixth century AH, is one of the most important characteristics of the building. Pir-Hamzeh building has been renovated and restored at least three times since its original built in the sixth century AH. This tomb is popularly known as the burial of Aziz-ed-Din Nassafi, the eminent Sufi Golestān-e Honar 14, Winter 20094 master. He escaped from his birthplace Bukhara in the second half of the seventh century AH, due to Mongols attack, and after wandering in different cities, finally he settled in Abarkuh, where he died later. However, there is no evidence available about his burial in the building. The ornaments of the tomb can be put in two categories: stuccos and paintings of walls; the first is of the sixth century AH, and the second of the eighth. According to our studies, comparing different periods, different kinds of materials were used in the ornaments of each period.