Chahar Bagh in Esfahan province

 The American scholar, Arthur Upham Pope, whose monument A Survey of Persian Art in six volumes is indispensable to all students of that subject, describes this Madrasa as (perhaps the last great building in Iran).
It was built between 1706 and 1714 during the reign of Shah Sultan Hussein, the last of the Safavids.
The Shah`s mother is said to have paid for the building and also for the adjoining carvanserai which was to provide the School`s endowment and which Yas converted in 1962-65 into what perhaps the most surprising and luxurious hotel in the Middle East.
The great tiled dome over the sanctuary at the north end of the building is covered with large arabesques in yellow, black and white against a brilliant turquoise background. Round the drum runs a band of contrasting lapis lazuli blue decorated with whitecalligraphic inscriptions.
The brilliance of coloring of the dome and minarets is emphasized by the Khaki-colored brick work below.
Lord Curzon, statesman and traveler, whose Persia and the Persian Question, published in1892, is a mine of individual information, described the Madrasa as (one of the stateliest ruins that I saw in Persia).
However, it has been skillfully restored and is still used as a mosque, though no longer as a seminary.

 <<previous            Next>>