Iranian architecture or Persian architecture is the architecture of Iran (Persia). It has a continuous history from at least 5000 BCE to the present, with characteristic examples distributed over a vast area from Turkey to North India and the borders of China and from the Caucasus to Zanzibar. Persian buildings vary from peasant huts to tea houses and garden, pavilions to "some of the most majestic structures the world has ever seen".
Iranian architecture displays great variety, both structural and aesthetic, developing gradually and coherently out of earlier traditions and experience. Without sudden innovations, and despite the repeated trauma of invasions and cultural shocks, it has achieved "an individuality distinct from that of other Muslim countries". Its paramount virtues are several: "a marked feeling for form and scale; structural inventiveness, especially in vault and dome construction; a genius for decoration with a freedom and success not rivaled in any other architecture".
Traditionally, the guiding formative motif of Iranian architecture has been its cosmic symbolism "by which man is brought into communication and participation with the powers of heaven". This theme, shared by virtually all Asian architecture and persisting even into modern times, has not only given unity and continuity to the architecture of Persia, but has been a primary source of its emotional character as well.
| “ | The supreme Iranian art, in the proper meaning of the word, has always been its architecture. The supremacy of architecture applies to both pre-and post-Islamic periods. | ” |
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—Arthur Pope, |
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Read more about Iranian Architecture: Fundamental Principles, Pre-Islamic Architecture of Persia, Islamic Architecture of Persia, Persian Domes, Contemporary Iranian Architecture in And Outside Iran, Future Architecture in Iran, Iranian Architects, UNESCO Designated World Heritage Sites, Awards
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