SeriesEsfahan is the home town of my friend Shahriar, and he made a point of slowly building up the visit to the summit: the amazing Naghsh-é Jahan Square and the Emam Mosque. Esfahan is by far the most beautiful town I have visited so far in Iran, one of the finest cities of the Islamic world. Esfahan nesf-é Jahan: Esfahan is half the world. Its a fairly small town (comparable to Vancouver or Brussels, a village next to Tehran's 13 million inhabitants) but it is full of riches. Its inhabitants are friendly and open. Although it has the reputation of being very religious, and this being the middle of Ramadan, I didn't find it striking; but then again its hard to tell for the casual observer. The city which was the capital of the Seljuk empire in the 11th Century, and became the capital of the Safavid empire at the beginning of the 17th Century: Shah Abbas the Great decided to remodel the city in 1598. Much of the monuments I describe here are from that period.
We started our tour in the Armenian quarter, Jolfa. The Vank Cathedral is a beautiful 17th Century building, which surprisingly looks like a mosque with its large dome. The interior is covered in brightly colored frescos and tiles, mixing Christian iconography and Safavid patterns. Unfortunately photos were not allowed inside the building. The Armenian community is significant in Esfahan, and they are the people to talk to if you want to buy some pork (forbidden to Muslims); not that we did...
The Jameh Mosque (or Friday Mosque) in Esfahan has been built and expanded from the 10th to the 18th Centuries: it displays Seljuk, Mongol and Safavid architectural styles. Particularly impressive was the Timurid-era (i.e: Mongol) winter hall, whose skylights are covered with slabs of alabaster that let in a very soft and diffuse light. Nevertheless, at the end of the visit I was starting to feel like I had enough mosques; its quite an intellectual effort to understand all these fine architectural points... And the information that I can carry with me is quite limited. Little did I know...
To relieve some of the mosque pressure, we headed to the Safavid-era Chehel Sotun Palace (17th Century); set in beautiful garden with pine trees providing shadow, lots of water and flowers, it is a great place to recover from the loud and crazy traffic of the city. Chehel Sotun means 40 columns: 20 are supporting the roof of a grandiose terrace with beautiful patterns inlaid on the ceiling (see below), and the other twenty are their reflections in the water.
The columns rest on lion-shaped bases, the lion being a symbol of Iran. The junctions between the different pieces of wood are visible on the photos if you look carefully. The interior of the palace is beautifully painted with scenes depicting court life, battles and other significant events of the era. Frescos with half-naked dancing girls managed to survive several invasions and the Islamic revolution...
The true focal point of Esfahan is the vast Naghsh-é Jahan Square (512 x 159 meters); delimited on the North side by the Bazaar, on the South side by the Emam Mosque, to the East by the Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque and to the West by the Ali-Qapu palace. It was built in 1612 by Shah Abbas the Great.
The Ali-Qapu Palace, with its vast terrace overlooking the square was the seat of the government. The terrace was used to watch a local variation of the polo game, taking place in the square down below. The music room was particularly nice, with the shape of various bottles and jars being cut out of the walls and ceilings; its walls covered with gold leaf and paint.
Next we headed to the Emam Mosque, a building so impressive that I'd like to go back to see it again. My photos definitely don't do it justice. The tile work is impressive: the walls are mosaics of pieces of tile cut to perfectly fit together (unfortunately you you can't see it from the photos). The colors of the tiles are slightly different in each of the four iwans (barrel-vaulted walls opening on the courtyard), but the ensemble is in perfect harmony. The mosque itself is oriented towards Mecca, but the entrance portal is angled to match the orientation of the square.
Finally, as if it wasn't enough, the small Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque on the east side of the square is beautiful harmonious piece, with just a single room. No minaret, no courtyard. I have to admit that it was a bit hard to appreciate after the flamboyant grandeur of the Emam Mosque. Since Esfahan is just 4 hours south of Tehran I am hoping to come back while I am in Iran.
To recover after a few days full wonders, there is nothing like smoking the Qalyan at the little teahouse under Chubi Bridge. It is a popular place with the locals who come there to drink and smoke. Women are allowed to smoke the Qalyan as well... This is like going to the bar for the locals, but unfortunately there is no music (and no alcohol, but that wasn't surprising).