Threshold in Pilgrimage Architecture, Examining the Relation and Effect of Pilgrimage Practices on the Razavi Shrine’s Architecture with a Focus on Entrance Thresholds

Pilgrimage architecture is a significant kind of ceremonial and religious architecture. Concentrating on the architecture of a pilgrimage site, particularly the shrines and tombs of the Ahl al-Bayt (as), pilgrimage architecture may be studied from an interdisciplinary viewpoint. This article attempts to examine the significance of shrines architecture due to pilgrimage rituals by posing the question: “How does the tradition of pilgrimage affect the architecture of shrines?” with utmost focus on the concept of “pre-threshold” in the interaction of “pilgrimage” and “architecture.” This article aims to convey the physical and architectural manifestations of pilgrimage on the entries or architectural pre-thresholds of the Razavi Shrine. The historical, patrimonial, and architectural data was analyzed from the perspectives of cultural studies and architectural anthropology. We found the physical-semantic impacts that the architecture of the Shrine’s entrances (pre-threshold stage) gets from the tradition of pilgrimage and rituals etiquettes (intention, salutation, and permission to enter) in the form of a continuous chain of architectural spaces in the entrances (doors, halls, courtyards)