History of Mentalities in Iranian Architecture: Subjects, Methods and References

In the history of Iranian architecture, different aspects of popular architecture are less known. Common people have been living in the buildings with significant architecture and had different mentalities towards them. They also had various opinions and beliefs about the profession of architecture itself, design and construction process, the architects and patrons. History of mentalities as an embranchment of cultural history was proposed by historians with regard to considerations of the people of the past toward different phenomena. We may use this historiographical approach in Iranian architecture studies and for understanding peoplechr('39')s mentality toward different meanings of architecture. This approach studies collective and daily perceptions and views towards architecture, instead of focusing on the body of architectural properties and formal thoughts. This approach uses various common methods in humanities and has its own etiquette. Subjects and examples of the history of mentality in Iranian architecture are various. Topics such as peoplechr('39')s mentality toward private architecture, their view to mythical architecture and also their imagination about prosperity concept are considered in this approach. This approach, with its own perspective, uses all relevant historical sources to recognize. However, some resources such as folk poetry literature, folk tales, travelogues, biographies, oral and pictorial sources, and objects related to architecture open up the way for history of mentalities in architecture more and better. The purpose of this study is analyzing the main concepts regarding the history of mentalities approach in architecture, recognizing common customs and its examples, and also introducing thematic sources of the approach.