Athar

Ghalā Bāng Cemetery and Site, Seven Thousand Years of Human Residence in Bijar-e Garous

Hamid Amanollahi

The findings gathered from the surface of Ghalā Bāng site contain several materials which belong to different periods and no full data about them in the said region are available for example potteries dating back to the Chalcolithic and Bronze Ages. This site is located at Bijar, Kurdistan province of Iran. From the viewpoint of scheduling, our data about when the site was active and when abandoned is scarce and roughly unreliable. It seems that this site covers a relatively complete sequence of cultural relics from the pre-history (Neolithic and Bronze ages), historical (Parthian and Sassanian) up to the Islamic period (middle centuries) and it means a treasure for the region. From the other side, an essential part of the site has been ruined due to illegal diggings, inconsiderate urban constructions as well as other developmental activities. There exists a high risk if any immediate action is done, we may never be able to acquire and extract the remaining data. Even if any danger did not threaten the site, its survey and excavation were of pressing need. Now that its destruction and surrounding developmental activities are speedily going on, urgent implementation of such a project is a must. We hope this report functions as an introduction for a more thorough study in future. Accordingly, three focal objectives are targeted in this report: 1- Rescuing the site before full destruction; 2- Gathering archaeological data for removing or reducing existing ambiguities and inadequacies in cultural-historical sequences of the region and its relation with neighboring areas in deferent periods; 3- Site stratigraphy for providing more data about the chronology of the region.
Archaeological excavations, especially the urban archaeology in this site can introduce this property and the region’s historical and natural attractions.

Physical and Functional Documentation of the Historical Olfat House

Azadeh Hariri

The architecture of residential spaces in Isfahan has put forward treasured examples to the world of art and architecture through history. House is one of the most important forms of the social organization of space in which numerous factors have been influential in its construction just like many other human-made complexes. Due to the changes in the recent century, historical houses are severely vulnerable to destruction, especially where houses constitute a significant part of the historical fabric of historical cities in Iran, including Isfahan. Modern development is one of the key factors in the destruction of and changes in the physical appearance of historical houses. They functioned as the identity-making element of the historical fabrics. Albeit they enjoyed many values including physical, functional and expressive aspects, they have been forgotten at present and sometimes become a crisis for a neighborhood. The result of disregarding the historical fabrics is to dishonor their historical and cultural identity. One of the worst destructions of the residential heritage of Isfahan is purposeful setting fire to such houses. After the demise of Allāmeh Olfat, his home has witnessed many damages and challenges. This house is one of the types of the Iranian residential architecture that in addition to physical values, enjoy unrivalled expressive and trans-physical indexes. This house was one of the cultural markers of Hassanabad neighborhood in the past, but it has become the least secure spot of the community at the moment. To achieve peace and security, the residents of the area endeavor to destroy this valuable heritage. Its destruction led in the disappearance of the dwelling pattern and its relevant culture. This research tries to explain the physical structure and function of Olfat House for documentation based on oral interviews, private and governmental archives. The main goal for answering the critical question is to provide scientific documentation of the structure by analyzing its physical and functional characteristics to clarify its values as an example of destroyed residential heritage of Isfahan. To carry out the project descriptive-analytical method has been employed aiming at the development and utilizing library sources, photos, maps, field studies, observation and interview. The collected data has been analyzed through a qualitative method by comparison and interpretation. The results reveal the physical and functional values of the house though studying the historical documents and comparing them with several contemporaneous historic houses in the same neighborhood. The Olfat House was of rare houses in the Qajar period which were equipped with a garden and bathroom.
Moreover, there existed a unique system of connections among a number of the relatives’ houses through dead-end alleys and private passages. The life in the said house was in concert with Allāmeh Olfat’s extensive activities. His activities in the field of culture and sometimes production such as rose water production reveal the trans-residential functions in the house.

Managerial Approaches to Support Intellectual Property Rights in Museums

Zahra Shakeri

Some of the cultural works which are considered as cultural heritage, regardless of their antiquity and precedence, are simultaneously subject of the legal systems of intellectual property rights and cultural heritage law. This situation can lead to a conflict of interest between private ownership and public law which, in turn, may create many problems for the management of cultural heritage when individuals privately own it. This research tries to remedy such problems by introducing solutions for this conflict of interest without any prejudice to the artists’ rights or the public bodies, the representatives of the society, who are the cultural heritage authorities. From the other side, nowadays many museums utilize modern data technologies as a result of advancement in computer and communication sciences. They publish their artistic works in digital version through the internet. In this way, the data and works are easily accessible. Albeit the new technologies facilitate access to and sharing images, videos, archives, books and historical documents, have also created new challenges especially for identification of owners of the said properties. In the cultural heritage realm, there are many reasons to copy human-made artefacts and relicts either for presentation in museums or for research purposes. Among other things, copyright is one of the most disturbing obstacles to developing digital museums. Copyright faces with numerous confrontations as it can be effortlessly violated. Besides, digital items enjoy less stability because they can be simply copied from a distance. Several users can concurrently use them with ease.
Consequently, the cultural heritage authorities should try to implement measures for preventing the violence of copyright. In the end, this paper reaches to the conclusion that management and protection of intellectual properties which also enjoy heritage capacity lead to complicated and multi-faceted problems as they embrace social, historical, cultural, legal and political aspects. On that account, to manage the accessibility and utilization of such collections, all aspects, as mentioned earlier, should be relatively known and taken into consideration. Accordingly, the museums need precise and pre-determined policies and solutions for the proper execution of their tasks, especially when it comes to the management of their intellectual properties. These solutions should assist the museums in meeting their goals and fulfilling their duties. In doing so, the principle of least intervention, management of digital law and monitoring the public access to the collections constitute three vital principles which the Cultural Heritage entity should pay attention to.

Introducing and Analyzing Two Historical Documents about the Development of Tehran at the Reign of Nasiruddin Shah

Farideh Kalhor

Tehran has changed a lot at the time of Nasiruddin Shah. The changes began from the destruction of Tahmāsbī fortress and constructing a new one and development of the city in 1867. These were done because the town was small; therefore, Nasiruddin Shah ordered to make the changes. There is a very few information about the formation of the development and its details. The existing data can be extracted from historical books and newspapers which were published during the Qajar period and left numerous questions unanswered. There are at least two official documents -about the development of Tehran at the time of Nasiruddin Shah- which the researchers neglected to examine. This paper tries to describe the formation and city planning of Tehran at the time by introducing and analyzing the said documents. Disregarding how much the development is in conformity with the said documents, studying their contents clarifies what kind of thoughts on urban planning were accessible for implementing this development. The records under study are kept in the Boyūtāt Album No. 188 existing in the “National Library and Achieves of the Islamic Republic of Iran”. These documents which address Nasiruddin Shah propose some suggestions about the development of the city of Tehran and constructing a new fortress. The author of the documents is unknown. These two documents were firstly published in “Ganjīne-ye Asnad” Magazine along with several other accounts. As there were several mistakes in the first deciphering, I tried to decipher and rewrite the documents scientifically. Besides their physical specifics, to understand them in the context of Tehran’s historical changes, a summary on the changes in Tehran at the time of Nasiruddin Shah is provided.
These documents contain numerous and essential facts about city planning that have been in the minds of the founders of the development of Tehran at the time of Nasiruddin Shah. The first document is in two parts; in the first part the author proposes several suggestions about the form and size of the city, and in the second part, he/she aims to provide how to secure the costs. In the second document, the offerer endeavors to enumerate the benefits of the development of Tehran and convince Nasiruddin Shah to accept the suggestions.
These two documents reveal following points on the development of Tehran: form and size of the town, statistical issues such as the number of residing households, field area, separating needed residential and non-residential uses, how to secure the costs and the labor force. Moreover, these deeds are essential references for the land price in that period as well as measurement units for length and area in large scales, i.e., at city scale at the time of Nasiruddin Shah. Besides, according to these documents, man can prove the relationship between the twelve gates of the Nāsserī fortress with the Shiite twelve Imams.

Identifying Rahim Khan Mosque-School Based on Descriptive and Pictorial Documents and Oral History

Negar Kourangi

Mosque-school is one of the prominent multi-functional buildings in Iranian architecture. It integrates training use with praying function in a single building. These two utilizations were closely practiced and interacted from the advent of Islam, mostly in mosques. The construction of such a building reached its zenith at the Qajar period. The city of Isfahan has always been one of the leading centers of science and religion in the Islamic period of Iran. To that account, noticeable mosque-schools were erected over there. Rahim Khan mosque-school is considered as one of the developed examples of such a building in that city. To perform appropriate conservational and organizational measures in mosque-schools, one needs to know, as much as possible, the relationship between the two training use and praying function at once.
Studying Rahim Khan mosque-school as one of the eminent mosque-schools of Isfahan can provide a better understanding of these buildings, especially the ones which were constructed at the Qajar period. This research employed descriptive and pictorial documents as well as oral history. At the first stage, to identify the date and process of construction, the contemporaneous resources were studied. Then, all inscription installed on the building were re-examined. The inscriptions were chronologically classified. In addition to the inscriptions, field studies and reviewing oral history helped effectively to understand how the building is constructed and its relevant changes. The present article aims to study the physical organs of the praying and training places of Rahim Khan mosque-school and to explain how these organs are interconnected. Besides for the first time, this investigation, based on the studies, intends to provide a clear view of its developmental process. The author succeeded to identify the date and process of its construction by re-deciphering the dates written on the said inscriptions while the field studies were of great help. Interviews with developers and living family and relatives of the founder of the building were also helpful in this regard. It was erected during the ending years of the Qajar dynasty by one of the famous clergymen of the then time in No neighborhood of Isfahan. When the founder died, the building left uncompleted; therefore, Rahim Khan Biglarbeigi and his brothers accomplished the project. Finally, it was entirely constructed during the early years of the 14th century of the Lunar calendar.

Nazhvan Pavilion in Isfahan, Construction Technics and an Experience for Building a Lightweight Structure

Nahid Holakouei

The Coastal area of Nazhvan is located at the riverside of Zayandehrūd River in the western part of Isfahan. In the gardens of this area which are mostly orchards, woodlands full of fruitless trees, owners have constructed architectural spaces and pavilions. One of the prominent architectural spaces within this territory is a mill known as “Asyāb-e Nazhvān or Hājjī”. There stands a two-floor pavilion on the eastern side of the mill, which is the case study of this paper. This mill is almost the only remaining practical mill in the city of Isfahan. The constructional techniques employed and the addition of the pavilion on the mill are unique. This study tries to scrutinize its structural components. The main spaces, comprising of a five-door chamber in center and two three-door rooms at its sides, stand in the first floor. Besides, some space for facilities such a storage room, kitchen and water closet can be seen on the same storey. There is a three-door room on the second floor which is entirely made of wood, and wooden doors and windows constitute its walls except the chimney and ceiling coating. Now the northern three-door room ceased to exists; therefore, a structural imbalance has emerged on the second floor which ruined the roof of the mill. The field studies reveal that the mill has been built and later this two-floor pavilion was added to it. The constructional timing of the mill and its pavilion needs an extensive discussion which should be done in another investigation.
After this short introduction, the central question is “how has this two-floor pavilion been added to the mill and what kinds of techniques the mason employed to build the pavilion?” Besides, another noticeable issue is the method used to construct a lightweight pavilion to avoid any excessive load pressure on piers and foundation of the mill. Accordingly, the primary goals of this research are the examination of constructional techniques, (technology of pavilion), how it has been added to the mill, its lightweight construction and deliberate structural documentation of this property. Consequently, execution of this research provides a meticulous study of it which will significantly help to its conservation. Based on the field studies, the descriptive-analytical method was employed for investigation. In the end, the studies show that the piers of the pavilion on the first floor were not consistent with the mill’s piers.
For the same reason, the architect has raised the piers of the mill to build the pavilion. Then, he made a network of poles. The roof of the mill was formed by a traditional method of lightweight construction locally known as “Kenu-bandī” to build an even surface for the first floor. Then after, the piers of the pavilion were installed on the network of poles. The architect tried to create a lightweight pavilion to avoid any extra load on the wooden system. In the same line, he constructed the second floor entirely with wood materials. Through this, the network of poles transferred the pavilion imposing load to the piers and foundation of the mill.