Physical - Spatial typology of Safavid Religious tombs in Isfahan

The Safavid period is regarded as one of the leading periods in the field of architecture of religious tombs and, consequently, the area of Isfahan in this period as the capital of the state completely reflects the architecture of this era. The purpose of the present study is to identify and categorize the physical-spatial characteristics of the species of this type of architecture which, given the neglect of existing works and consequently  their gradual destruction, seems necessary.this study aims to answer the following questions: what are the physical-spatial characteristics of religious tombs and how to assign weighted values to each of these characteristics.  in this regard, firstthe burial features were identified based on Islamic teachings and tomb architecture principles, and then 17 tombs were identified in the Safavid Isfahan and its affiliated territories andclassified into tombs of Ulema and imams’ offsprings based on the deceased’s religious rank and their principles. and their physical-spatial principles and features were analyzed separately by descriptive-analytic method. Finally, by putting together the analyses of each sample, the statistically significant results of the dominant features on the tomb architecture of the Safavid period were obtained in each of the components discussed and in each of the two types examined and presented. Of these, some features common to both species in question, include the extraversion and observance of particular hierarchies of entry into the tombs and the centralized geometry of their predominant main space.