Persian Architecture
Persian architecture has contributed for a long time as a distinct element of world culture.Their influence from Egypt,Greece and Mesopotamia,created a natural style but also conventionalised, with decorated surfaces and ornamental flattened spaces.
There are a few elements that I would like to mention as they have strongly influenced buildings throughout much of the Islamic world.
The usage of Iwans
An iwan is a vaulted space that opens on one side to a courtyard. It developed in pre-Islamic Iran and it is associated with Persian architecture
The iwan as complex as it is, a mysterious yet pleasing aesthetics, is characterized by symmetry. You cannot comprehend it but at the same time it speaks to you. The shadows ,the light, the arches and its colors are truly mesmerizing. The details make it seem like a mere illusion.
Extensive use of arches
The Taj Mahal and the Great Mosque of Isfahan for the Persian architecture displays the example of this fact. Its functions is to place windows and to lessen the extent of sunlight to pour into the building. The shape conveys a warming sensation , an imaginative salvation that is related to the islamic religion. Lines are perfectly in touch with the security that these arches possess
Gardens, fountains, and pools
These architectural styles offer spacious gardens , pools with fountains as attributes to the buildings. In a traditional Iranian architecture , it is used for bathing.
Water plays a particularly central role in Iranian design. 1,000 years before the invention of the first water pump, Persian agricultural experts created the qanat based on their hydraulic laws.
Domes
The Persian tradition of dome-building dates back to the earliest Mesopotamian architecture (3,000 BC) when domes became an integral part of buildings due to the scarcity of wood in many areas of the Iranian plateau.
In ancient Persian architecture, domes were associated with the divine side of life, as their circular shape represented perfection, eternity and the heavens.
The Persian domes then became the inspiration for the domed baldachin of Roman and Byzantine practice, after Alexander the Great conquered the Achaemenid Empire.