Semiotic Study of Decorative Themes in the Courtyard of Astan Quds Razavi

Islamic architecture includes sublime meanings and sublime themes, one of the manifestations of which can be found in the shrine of Astan Quds Razavi.Signs are always accompanied by interpretation; Thus, the semiotics of the science of interpretation is the sign of the "sign" which means interpretation. Therefore, the sign is not fixed and may not be a sign for another person, so the sign is a symbol that must be discovered. Meanwhile, the famous semiotician Pierce, the contemporary philosopher, pays more attention to visual semiotics. One of the most magnificent visual signs can be seen in the shrine of Astan Quds Razavi. Azin is closed. Humans have always sought to find the truth in existence, and these beliefs, ideas and thoughts over time have been adorned in the form of images and have become symbols, signs and symbols. The codes of the visual elements in any form and color can be explained and interpreted, because the meanings and concepts of these signs are the result of sensory-visual perceptions as well as the birth of ideas, mental ideas, thoughts and imaginations of the artist. One way to study and understand the themes and mysteries of these images is to approach the system that governs the laws that govern the structure of visual language, that is, the science and tools of semiotics that are related to signs. In fact, the discovery of related mental concepts is associated with individual or group communication in society and its recognition is possible through cultural symbols in any civilization.There are many signs in the universe that have unique concepts and meanings due to their establishment in every society, community, culture and civilization. Over time, humans have created designs inspired by these concepts and adorned the space with appropriate designs in appropriate places and situations. Therefore, one of the holy places, which due to its status and sanctity has a corner of many visual signs in the universe, is the royal and holy court of Samen Al-Hajj Ali Ibn Musa Al-Reza (AS) in Khorasan. Is. This holy shrine of Razavi has been a safe haven for the hearts of believers from different walks of life throughout history and different periods. Shiites have used it (Nemati, 2016). Azadi Courtyard is one of the main areas of Astan Razavi, which in its place has decorations and visual signs with a unique Iranian-Islamic culture that are thought-provoking. The courtyard is located to the east of the shrine, which has four porches and a wooden door of the southwest pavilion has been selected. Considering that the basis of Islamic art is based on repetition and symmetry, all the visual-visual elements painted and decorated in the courtyard are decorated with the same principle. Therefore, in this article, due to the lack of elaboration, repetitive and continuous patterns, elements and visual-visual signs are avoided, and researchers are content to introduce the works. However, the designs that are different and unique from each work are selected and studied and analyzed with a semiotic approach. The Freedom Court of Astan Quds Razavi is a text of one of the most magnificent works of Islamic architecture that has a lot of hidden codes that need to be revealed through interpretation and semiotics is one of them. In this research, we will try to explain the relations between signifier and signified in the signs used in this traditional religious space, which is based on various contracts of similarity (symbolism), association and traditions (symbol) and cause and effect (index). Analytical science used semiotics in analyzing and reading patterns and discovering their implicit meanings. The present study seeks to answer these questions: What kind of visual signs based on the relationships between signs and meanings are available in the courtyard of freedom? And how can these signs be read and analyzed using the analytical tools of the semiotic approach? This article has been done by descriptive-analytical method. Data collection is in the form of library resources. The result of the research showed that the visual signs of Freedom Square are classified into seven categories. In general, the message and concepts of visual signs related to themes and meanings such as: holiness, rabbinism, soul and perfect human being have been observed. The relationships between different aspects of signs are also based on the semiotic approach in the form of index-symbolic, index-symbolic, symbolic-symbolic.