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2018 | OriginalPaper | Buchkapitel

1. Mapping the ‘In-Between’

verfasst von : M. Reza Shirazi

Erschienen in: Contemporary Architecture and Urbanism in Iran

Verlag: Springer International Publishing

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Abstract

In the opening chapter of the book, I use Paul Ricoeur’s classic text, Universal Civilization and Natural Culture (1965) as a point of departure. The text intends to show how developing countries, including Iran, confront a twofold problem: the necessity of understanding the country’s profound personality and rootedness in the soil of the past, at one extreme, and at the other, the scientific, technical and cultural rationality of modern civilization. In other words, these countries face the crucial challenge of becoming modern and yet returning to their original sources, or of simultaneously reviving an old, dormant civilization while also taking part in universal civilization. In the first chapter, I argue that the general history of Iran over the last 150 years, and particularly its architectural and urban transformation, has oscillated between the two extremes of the West, Modernization and Modernity (Tajaddod) on the one hand, and the East, Nationalism and Tradition (Sonnat) on the other.

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Nächstes Kapitel The Theory of ‘In-Between’

The original date of this article, 1965, and the change of terminology over the course of time should be considered.

Chahar-Bagh, literally meaning four gardens, refers to the typical geometric and spatial configuration of a Persian garden, which consists of two main axes, generally marked by a watercourse, dividing the entire garden into four sections.

Chenar means plane tree; chenrestan is literally a garden of plane trees. Chenar used to be a typical tree in Persian gardens, tall of stature and a metaphor for beauty and dignity in literature and poems.

For more details regarding the structure and governance of Mahalle see: Marefat (1988).

Iran conducted two wars against Russia. The first war (1804–13) ended with a peace treaty that ceded part of a territory including present-day Georgia, Dagestan, and most of the present-day Republic of Azerbaijan. The second war, starting from 1826, although it was partly successful at the outset, nevertheless culminated in another disadvantageous peace treaty that ceded nearly all of Iran’s Armenian territories and Nakhchivan.

The process of Westernization was already under way in other countries in the Middle East, particularly Istanbul and Cairo. For a detailed description see: Abu-Lughod (1971), Çelik (1986).

Both Khediv Ismail of Egypt and Sultan Abdolaziz of the Ottoman Empire received an invitation from Paris and visited the exhibition, though Nasereddin Shah did not attend. For more details see Çelik (1992).

Since the visits to Europe took place after the commencement of the city expansion, it is difficult to argue that the new proposed configuration of the city was the result of the direct influence of European cities, including Paris, on the Shah. But it can be imagined that his travelling and visits to Europe encouraged him to accelerate new construction and development.

Marsahi (2008) argues that rebuilding the capital into an appropriately national capital with a central open cityscape and large boulevards in the European style provided space for the Shah’s ceremonial activity, following his visit to Europe in 1873 and recognition of new methods of legitimation through ceremonial practices. The construction of Takyeh Dowlat, a large stage for practicing ta’ziyeh, a traditional theatrical event commemorating the martyrdom of Imam Hossein, was in line with this concept.

For a detailed insight into the accounts of travellers in Tehran, and the way they have observed, explained and interpreted this conflict between the new and old see Shirazi (2015).

Sir George Nathaniel Curzon lived from 1859–1925, and published widely on the cities of Central Asia and the Middle East, including Russia in Central Asia (1889), Persia and the Persian Question (1892) and Problems of the Far East (1894). The book Persia and the Persian Question, written in 1892, is considered to be Curzon’s magnum opus. The two-volume book covers a range of topics including Persia’s history and political condition, and includes a detailed description of different cities, illustrated with graphics, maps and pictures. The Tehran section, 53 pages in length, is the result of his visit to this city in the autumn and winter of 1889.

Abraham Valentine Williams Jackson, who lived from 1862–1937, was born in the city of New York, graduated from Columbia University in 1883 and was appointed professor of Indo-Iranian languages and public lecturer at Columbia in 1891. He wrote several books in this field, including A Hymn of Zoroaster, Yasna XXXI (1888); An Avestan Grammar (1892); An Avestan Reader (1893); and Zoroaster, the Prophet of Ancient Iran (1899). The spirit of scientific curiosity and adventure led him to Persia and central Asia in 1903, 1907 and 1910. The outcome of these visits was Persia, Past and Present (1906) and From Constantinople to the Home of Omar Khayyam (1911). He visited Tehran in 1903 and produced a 10 page report on the city that included eight illustrations.

Francis Bradley Bradley-Birt, born in 1874 (d. 1963), was a diplomat and writer who started his career as an English member of the Indian Civil Service. His book Through Persia, From the Gulf to the Caspian, published in 1909, is based on his visit to Persia in 1906. The Tehran section comprises 18 pages, with some illustrations.

The identity of the first initiator of the idea of Tehran University is much contested. However, Reza Shah’s direct and indirect support played a vital role in the inauguration of the university. For more details see Catanzaro (2014).

Naserid developments, as explained here, took place in the northern parts of the city, and required no significant destruction and clearing. This approach was similar to what happened in Safavid Isfahan when the Shah decided to give the city dignity and glory. Recognizing that developing the city outwards to former agricultural land is much simpler and less problematic than developing in urban areas with existing rights in property, huge urban projects including Naqsh-i Jahan Square component and the Chahar-Bagh complex were built in the southern parts of the city centre (see: Falahat and Shirazi 2012, 2015). In contrast to these pioneering examples, Reza Shah advocated radical destruction and demolition within existing urban areas, did not tolerate any resistance, and thus implemented his ideas by force. He considered that the entire city must be modernized and must represent the country’s progressive image, not only part of the city, as in Safavid Isfahan and Naserid Tehran.

The process of demolition and destruction was very rapid and brutal, and failed to consider the rights of property owners. It is said that tens of thousands of residential units were demolished, along with historical buildings and edifices. This was reflected in a couple of reports and diaries of the time. For a detailed description of the reactions see: Grigor (2014).

The statement is in line with a series of clichés produced around Iranian cities’ morphology, claiming that they are irregular and chaotic, taking European cities as point of reference, considered as regular and ordered. For a detailed account of these clichés see: Falahat (2014).

Imamzadeh, literally the offspring or descendent of an Imam, refers to a person—or a tomb—that belongs, directly or through a chain of descendants, to the holy family in the Shiite branch of Islam.

Waqf is a religious endowment in Islamic law. It refers to any property endowed for charitable purposes. Any change in the original endowment agreement is very complicated and restricted. In urban development plans, the existence of waqf properties within the site of development may lead to delays in implementation.

The Amiriyyeh neighbourhood to the north-west of the historical city was an urban area dedicated to the nobility of the Pahlavi dynasty. As the name of the neighbourhood suggests—amir means commander or high-ranking military officer, thus Amiriyyeh is a place associated with him––it was planned to house the newly emerging social class close to the ruling government. This area, though currently drastically changed and transformed, was an area that displayed Pahlavi style residential architecture.

A long cloak worn over garments by Muslim women in Iran. It covers the entire body.

As can be seen in Avanessian’s statement, it seems difficult to follow simultaneously both the modernist and nationalist desires of Reza Shah and his protagonists in the architectural field. While severe Modernism advocates a break from the past in any form, Nationalism looks for a reproduction of historical motifs as a source of dignity and national honour. While Avanessian admires Reza Shah’s unveiling programme, since it releases women from the prison of the past, he criticizes the nationalist manifestations of his ideas as absurd and nonsensical.

A result of deconstructing the old and constructing anew was the secularization of the monument and a transformation in its role from featuring in a religious ceremony of pilgrimage to taking its place in a modern ritual of respecting and admiring the past. Grigor (2009) has uncovered and relayed the philosophy and approach of The Society of National Heritage in detail.

Not only did Farmanfarmaian’s architectural work incorporate principles of international style and thus promote the intention to be represented internationally, the office he ran was also a prominent professional consultancy for architecture and urban planning in the region, with employees from different disciplines covering a range of advanced technical consultations worldwide. The 60s was a prosperous period for his office, with more than a hundred Iranian as well as international employees in the two Tehran and Athens branches.

One should exclude some architectural works from the list, such as the Tehran University Mosque and Iranian Pavilion in EXO 67, Montreal, Canada. In these works, as he has confirmed in an interview, he has followed feelings and intuitions rather than rationality. In both cases, there is a distinctive difference from other works designed under his supervision and in his office in terms of form, spatial configuration, ornament, references and associations.

It is worth mentioning that this line of thought, to some extent, was crystallized in the Islamic revolution of 1979, an obviously anti-Western, if not anti-modern movement, a reaction to the Shah’s extensive ambitions for modernization and secularization. The Islamic Revolution was the first theocratic state in the modern world to institutionalize the doctrines of ‘Pure Muhammadan Islam’ under the governance of Islamic clergies. The aim of the Islamic revolution was to found an Islamic Republic based on authentic Islamic doctrine, in which all aspects of society are directly derived from religious instruction and traditions. It brought to the fore a clerical constitution favouring Sharia law. Regarding the architectural and urban manifestations of the post-revolutionary era, see Chap. 5.

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Titel: Mapping the ‘In-Between’
verfasst von: M. Reza Shirazi
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Buch: Contemporary Architecture and Urbanism in Iran
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-72184-2

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-319-72185-9

Copyright-Jahr: 2018
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72185-9_1

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