Movement
Persian Architecture
Explore in the Atlas →The architectural tradition of greater Iran, originating in pre-Islamic Achaemenid and Sasanian building and continuing through the Islamic centuries, defined by the iwan, the four-iwan courtyard plan, double-shelled domes, monumental gateways and richly tiled surfaces. It reached a celebrated apogee under the Safavids at Isfahan around the Naqsh-e Jahan Square.
Ritual Memory Power
Details
- Origin
- Iran (greater Persia)
Classifications
- Holder
- Communal intergenerational
- Source of authority
- Revelation cosmologyAncestry
- Subject
- Human centred
- Cosmological orientation
- MandalaCardinal axes
- Degree of codification
- Pattern based
- Mode of transmission
- Apprenticeship
- Knowledge type
- Relational embodied
- Epistemic cluster
- Islamic menaCross cultural cosmological
Referenced by
- Shah Mosque (Isfahan) exemplifies
Sources
- Various. Iranian architecture. Wikipedia, 2024.
- Persian Language Online. Persian Architectural Styles through the Ages: Isfahan & the Safavids. Persian Language Online, 2023.
Cite this entry
First published May 2026Last revised Jul 2026
CLAD. "Persian Architecture." Atlas of Architectural Thought. CLAD, 2026. https://www.cl-ad.com.au/research/atlas/movement/persian-architecture/. Accessed July 17, 2026.