فصلنامه گلستان هنر
سال پنجم شماره 1 (پیاپی 15، بهار 1388)

Primary written resources are one of the most important resources of the history of Iranian architecture. However, they have not been noticed efficiently. Studying the words "history", "architecture" and "Iran" is required in order to know the position of these resources in researches about the history of Iranian architecture. Through this study, it will be understood that every Persian primary text potentially contains architectural information, and none can be considered out of the scope beforehand. This is particularly important as texts allocated to architecture are very few in non-modern cultures. This deficit in Iranian culture is due to the nature and status of architecture; i.e. it used to be known as a passing spiritual path, as a Sufi path, not as a formal science. Although some historians of Iranian architecture have referred to Persian texts in their studies, a disciplined and comprehensive program to study the texts as the resources of the history has never developed. Therefore, a method of searching in the texts the viewpoint of architectural history has not been compiled either. Methods and principles of searching in the texts depend on type of the text, the purpose of the researcher, and the subject of the research.

Ali-khān Vāli, an Iranian official in the second half of Qajar period, left us a collection of photos with his comments, which is a valuable document of Qajar architecture and culture. He learnt photography, together with French language, history, geography, and preliminaries of geometry in St. Petersburg. After graduating and visiting other European countries, he returned to Iran. First he became the king's special servant in Nassered- din Shāh Qajar's court. Afterwards he was charged as the governor of Marāgheh and then Ardabil, Meshkin, Sanandaj, Sāvojbolāgh, and Orumiyeh (Urmiah). During this long time, besides the affairs of the country and army, in which he had some success, he also proceeded to cultural works; such as establishing the first modern school in Khoy to teach French language, geometry, and military practices, controlling and put in order the suburb of Orumiyeh, vaulting the bazaars and paving the alleys of this city. Golestān-e Honar 15, Spring 2009 4 Ali-khān used to take photographs during all the time, and took the advantage of it to record events and report for the capital. However, he never neglected other subjects, such as natural scenes, old and new buildings, people and society. He thereafter assembled his photos collection in some albums or "Book of Photos", and adding explanations to the photos, he made them as unique documents of the history of architecture, culture and society of his time. Three albums are recorded from Ali-khān in the photo archive (albom-khāne) of Golestān Palace-Museum in Tehran. The subject of this article is one of the albums. This album, which is now kept in Harvard University library temporarily, contains 1405 photos with different sizes and subjects. Explanations are given for many of the photos. The album begins with an introduction about Ali-khān's memoir from his birth to the end of his ruling time in Ardabil in 1307 AH. Photos of the album can be put in several categories considering their subjects: places, buildings, urban and rural complexes; people (individuals and groups); natural landscapes; paintings; geographic maps.

The Booklet of Estimating the Construction Expenses of the Road of Māzandarān is a report which was arranged by Hossein- Qoli Qājār Mohandes, for Harāz road (one of the important roads between Tehran and māzandarān) and the expenses of its reconstruction and renovation in 1296 AH, by the order of Nāser-ed-Din-Shah and his chancellor, Amin-os-Soltān. This document consists of valuable information about mohandes (architect-civil engineer) and his profession in Qājār period, the method of road estimating, techniques of road construction, historical geography of the regions from which the road passed, in the second half of Qājār period. The edited text of the document is presented in the article for the first time.

Four maps of Tehran old city inside Shah Tahmasbi wall from Qājār period are available. Among these, the map by Russian captain Naskov, which was drawn in the late Fath-Ali-shāh Qājār's reign, is the oldest. The fact can be understood through studying its contemporary events and also surveying the very contents of the map and comparing it with the other three ones. The contents of the map clears that the purpose of its suppliers was to know and introduce the strategic position of Tehran and its suburb. Emphasizing on the location of some important buildings and drawing the details of the city rampart and trench are some of the evidences. This map was drawn in a time of the two Iran- Russia wars. From all of the evidences it can be understood that Naskov's map, the first map of Tehran city, was provided for a military purpose.

Mirzā Mehdi-Khān Shaqāqi, entitled as Momtahen-od-Dole, is the first Iranian architect educated in Europe. Returning to Iran, he was charged as "the architect of royal gardens and edifices", and during that time he constructed some buildings in Tehran. As he was passing his senility age, he wrote his biography: Khāterāt-e Momtahen-od-Dole (Momtahen-od-Dole's Memoirs). The architectural purports of the book contains the methods of designing and constructing buildings, expressions and physical characteristics of architecture, and also general circumstances of architecture and life in the late Qājār period. The instances of confliction of traditional and modern world in the thought and taste of Iranian architecture are among the most prominent issues in the book. The text was written in a period when both the author and his society had been living in the isthmus of these two worlds. These conflictions appeared in his daily life and professional work. Whatever happens around him, such as his communication with traditional employers and traditional architects, is a report of a society which is about to change. This modern architect, yet retained his traditional interests, is bewildered between what he has learnt and Golestān-e Honar 15, Spring 2009 5 adjusts the time and his roots in Iranian culture and architecture.

Bathroom has been the subject of medicine science in Islamic culture for two reasons: firstly the therapeutic properties of bathroom, and secondly its hygienic principles of constructing and maintenance. Therefore bathroom is the common joint of medicine and architecture. According to traditional Islamic medicine, bathroom should be built on the basis of four main tempers (tab’s): hot, cold, dry, and wet, which adjusts to the temperaments (mezājs) of the four seasons of year, the four phlegm (khelts) of body, and the four periods of human's life. Each bathroom should have four parts, and architecture of each one should be in accordance with one of the four phlegm (khelts). This subject is found in medicine texts among other themes, and the texts talking about bathroom clearly and independently are few. Resāle-ye Dallākiyye (the treatise of tonsorial) is one of these rare texts. Resāle-ye Dallākiyye was written by Mohammad Karim-khān Kermāni, by Karbalāyi Reza Salmāni's request, in the second half of thirteenth century AH. The treatise is a collection of theological thoughts and principles of traditional Islamic medicine. The author talks about the architecture of bathroom in the introduction of the treatise: the four parts of bathroom and their characteristics; that the ceiling of the bathroom should be built high, and the glasses of the openings should be removed occasionally so that it is prevented from air pollution; that no toilet should be built inside the bathroom; and that the bathroom should have tortuous corridors in connection to the outside, so that the exchange of the air with outside gets to the least amount. The edited text of the introduction of Resāle-ye Dallākiyye is attached to the article.

Safar-nāme-ye Nāser-e Khosrow (Nāser-e Khosrow’s Travel Account), one of the important Persian prose of the fifth century AH, contains a lot of knowledges about the history of Iranian architecture and urbanism. One of the categories of this knowledge is the types of residence (moqām) in a vast part of Islamic lands, from Iran to Egypt. Moqām has two types in Nāser-e Khosrow’s Travel Account, considering settlement time: permanent (public/ royal), and temporary (with a permanent/ temporary building). Among permanent moqāms, house and mansion are considerable instances with different meaning scopes. Qasr (palace), kushk (palace/ pavilion/ kiosk), and haram (harem) are examples of the words of Safar-nāme which implicate permanent royal moqāms. Temporary moqāms with a permanent building are the ones like manzel (halting place), rebāt (inn), gonbadak (small dome), mashhad (martyrium), kārvānsarā (caravanserai), and khān (caravanserai). Temporary ones with a temporary building (tents) are of an important part of moqāms in Islamic lands; such as sherā’, kheyme, khargāh, dehliz, sarāparde. Several instances of each type are stated in the travel account, which studying them brings about two advantages: knowing different residential buildings in an important part of Islamic lands in the fifth century AH; knowing architectural words and their meaning scopes.

Tiling is one of the original and ancient Iranian art and crafts. Training this craft used to be in a traditional master-pupil system. All stages of training were with the attendance of master, held in workshop. Therefore there was no need to inscribe its mysteries. This kind of education system is abrogated today, and there are only very few instances of all those tile-makers name on old walls. The first part of these article series devoted to Ostad Ali-Mohammad Esfahāni. Now in the second part, one of the tile-maker families is introduced. According to some remained documents related to the late Qājār period about tile-makers, as well as oral resources and the remained tile works, it is known that Khāk-negār Moqaddam family is one of the famous tile-maker families of Tehran, and the members of the family are the only remained ones of tiling profession in Tehran, since late Qājār period. Their significance is because they have not permitted a gap in tiling tradition and have been following their ancestors’ profession.

Popular and vulgar stories have a long historical precedent in Iran. In Qājār period, when printing industry entered to Iran again and developed, some of these stories were illustrated and lithographed. Among them, there were stories known as bache-khvāni (children books). A three-page bibliography from thirteenth century AH, called "Hāj Musā's list", attaching a book entitled Ganjineye Neshāt, contains the titles of bache-khvāni printed books. These books are in different sizes and also different types of illustrations. A few of the paintings have the painter's signature and date. The books of bache-khvāni can be put in some categories, considering their subjects: long vulgar stories; moral and allegorical stories; romantic stories; mystical stories; didactic books; poetic stories based on the lives of Shiite Imams; amusing stories with moral messages; moral tales; vulgar beliefs and thoughts, Shiite theology. As no sharp border can be defined between popular and children literature, children cannot be considered as the only addressed people of bache-khvāni books either. Bache-khvāni books are the joints between children books and popular ones. Bache-khvāni talks about an abrogated culture whose formation and survive depends on gathering people in a house or a public place to hear the story; so few of them exist nowadays.

Nur-Ali Borumand (1906-1976 AD) is one of the main conveyers of Iranian traditional music system (radif) to the modern era. He trained playing tār from Darvish- Khān, santur from Habib Samā'i, learnt radif from Ismā'il Qahremāni, and singing from Seyyed-Hossein Tāherzāde. He also learnt from masters Samsām-od-dole, Rezā Ravānbakhsh, Abdollāh Davāmi, and Hāj- Aqā Mohammad Irani Mojarrad. Borumand learnt European music in Germany. He used to be a music master in The Faculty of Fine Arts in University of Tehran for many years, and was one of the founders of The Centre for Conservation and Cultivation of Iranian National Music. He is a considerable character in the history of Iranian music, and had an important role in conservation and conducting the tradition of Iranian music to our time. Some documents about Borumand and his life are published and studied in this article.

Persian miniature has always been accompanied with Persian literature and affected by it. Among them, epic literature has always been considered significant for miniaturists, and the most famous examples of it, Ferdowsi's Shāhnāme, has always been illustrated by them. As artists have always had a long relation with Shāhnāme and they were familiar with the details and characteristics of its poems, their miniatures became proper representations for the epic texts. The effects can be observed and studied in different faces of the miniatures. Literary techniques and imageries used in poems, heroes’ moral characteristics, and also qualities such as the rhythm of epic poems, hyperbole, narrating several stories which go together, battle between kindness and badness, and immortality are the cases that their illustrations can be seen in Persian miniatures.