Shams Tabrizi Court; An exception in Iran's cultural heritage / no building, not even Azadi Tower, has had such a chance

Shams Tabrizi Court had the opportunity to become an exception in the history of Iran's cultural heritage; An opportunity that many buildings built, both before and after the revolution, have not yet achieved.

Ambassador Arjan; Hassan Zahouri - Shams Tabrizi Court was officially opened in Khoy on Mehr 15, 1405; But a few days before that, on 11 Mehr 1405, it was registered in the list of national works of Iran with number 34594. The reason for this registration was the national dignity and having various criteria that are considered for the registration of national works.

In this way, Shams Tabrizi Courthouse is not only the first building that was completely built after the revolution and registered in the national heritage list, but also the only building that was registered nationally before the official opening. An incident that is not common in the process of registering national works.

The laws related to the registration of national works in Iran have followed a path full of ups and downs. The first important and official law in this field was the "Law on Preservation of National Monuments" which was approved by the National Assembly on November 12, 1309, during the Reza Shah period.

Article 1 of this law clearly stated that all the industrial works, buildings and places that were built in Iran until the end of the Zandiyeh dynasty, both movable and immovable, can be considered among the national works of Iran and be under the protection and supervision of the government.

According to this law, the buildings of the Qajar period were not eligible for national registration; This was while Reza Shah himself was crowned in Golestan Palace; A lasting and beautiful building from the Qajar period, which is one of the wonders of Iran's cultural heritage.

The law of 1309 and its restrictions continued until 1334. Finally, on February 11 of the same year, Golestan Palace was registered in the list of national monuments with number 417; An event that paved the way for recording other works of the Qajar period.

However, the most important development in the field of registration of national works goes back to 1352; When a new law titled "Registration of National Artifacts Law" was drafted. This law set aside the time limit of the end of the Zendiyeh period and considered all the works that were important from the point of view of history or national dignity, regardless of the time of construction, as eligible for national registration. However, this development was registered by the Supreme Council of Culture and Art, not the National Assembly. But why did such a change occur in the laws of registration of national works of Iran?

In the late 1340s, preparations were made for the construction of a tower that was called "Shahyad" at that time and today we know it as Azadi Tower. Hossein Amanat, a young architect whose design was selected in a competition at Tehran University, was in charge of designing this building. Shahyad Tower construction was completed in Mehr 1350 and this building was opened.

However, the national monuments registration laws approved in 1309 did not allow the building that was built during this period to be included in the national heritage list. For this reason, in 1352, the time limit for the registration of national works was removed. Shahyad Tower was the first building that was registered in the list of national works of Iran after this legal change, in 1353, that is, about three years after its completion and opening.

Of course, before the construction of the Freedom Tower, other buildings were built in Iran, some of which were completed and opened even before this tower. However, despite the change of laws in 1352 and the removal of the time limit, these works did not get a chance to be nationally registered before the revolution.

One of these buildings is the head of Tehran University, which was built by Farzami, a student of the Faculty of Fine Arts, in 1346; A work that is considered one of the examples of contemporary Iranian architecture. Another example is Rudaki Hall, or today's Vahdat Hall, which was designed by Eugene Aftandelians and was opened on November 3, 1346. Despite the change in the laws of registration of national monuments, none of these two buildings were included in the list of national monuments before the revolution.

Tehran City Theater is one of the other significant buildings of this period. This building was designed by Ali Sardar Afkhami and its construction was completed in February 1351; Almost at the same time as the final years of construction and opening of Shahyad Tower. However, even before the revolution, the city theater did not have the opportunity to be registered in the list of national works.

Tehran Museum of Contemporary Arts, Niavaran Cultural Center, and even the building where the Ministry of Cultural Heritage is located today and which used to be the location of the Cultural Heritage Organization, are among other contemporary buildings in Iran whose construction and operation ended at the same time as the revolution or after it.

Hoshang Sihoun, who is known as one of the outstanding figures of Iranian architecture, designed tombs for a number of great Iranian poets, literature and history; including Khayyam's tomb in Neishabur, Ferdowsi in Tos, Nadershah in Mashhad and Abu Ali Sina in Hamadan. The three tombs of Khayyam, Ferdowsi and Nadershah, which were mainly opened in the 1340s, were registered in the list of national monuments of Iran on 18 December 1954 with consecutive numbers 1174, 1175 and 1176 and benefited from the evolution of registration laws. But Abu Ali Sina's tomb had a different fate and years later, in 1376, that is, about 20 years after its opening, it was registered in the national register.

Among these buildings, after Shams Tabrizi Court, which was registered in the list of national monuments at the same time as the construction process, before the official opening, the closest example in terms of the time interval between construction and national registration is Azadi Tower or the former Shahyad Tower. Other contemporary buildings of Iran were included in the list of national monuments with a gap between 17 and more than 40 years after their construction and operation.

For example, the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Arts, by Kamran Diba, a prominent Iranian architect, was opened on 22 Mehr 1356 in North Kargar Street; But its national registration lasted until 12 February 2008, that is, about 25 years later.

Farhangserai Niavaran, another work of Kamran Diba, was put into operation in 1357, but about 28 years later, on July 30, 1385, it was registered in the list of national works.

Vahdat Hall was registered in 1390 and in the 4th conference of registration of national monuments, about 44 years after its opening. Tehran City Theater was included in the list of national monuments in 2004, about 33 years after its opening in 2011. The main building of Tehran University was registered nationally on 18 Aban 1378, with a gap of about 33 years since its construction.

Finally, the building of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage is one of the buildings whose national registration took place years after its construction. The initial design of this building was presented by Hossein Amanat in the 1350s, but with the beginning of the revolution, its construction was stopped. Finally, the building was completed and operated in 1366, and in March 1383, that is, about 17 years later, it was registered in the list of national works of Iran.

Now we are facing an exception; Shams Tabrizi Court in Khoy, a building that a huge crowd gathered for its opening on Mehr 15, 1405. This building is built on a land with an area of about 7 thousand square meters, half of which is dedicated to the building and the other half to landscaping. The infrastructure of the complex is about 3500 square meters.

The construction of Shams Tabrizi Court took more than 20 years, but in the last two years, it gained significant speed until it finally reached the opening day. The architect of this building, Nader Ardalan, is one of the most prominent Iranian architects and well-known figures of contemporary Iranian architecture in the international arena. He had previously researched Iranian thought and architecture and is one of the authors of the book "Hess Vahdat"; A work about the link between Iranian architecture, sacred geometry and Iranian concepts.

In 2011, the design of Shams Bargah was put into a competition and about 400 designs were entered into this competition; But none of them could win the final opinion. Ardalan, who was the judge of the competition, voluntarily took responsibility for the architectural design of the building and called this project his engineering testament.

Ardalan was always faced with the question of how to build a building for a character like Shams Tabrizi in the 21st century that is not just a collection of bricks and stones and take the audience on a spiritual journey from knowledge to love and from love to enlightenment.

To find the answer, he directly referred to Rumi's thought and his famous poem: "I'm raw, I'm cooked, I'm burnt". This view became the basis of the architecture of Shams Court; Construction with three semantic stages.

The first stage is the external world; A symbol of rawness. The second stage is the interior space of the building, before entering the dome; A space in the shade and peace that follows the concept of maturity and refinement. Finally, in the center of light and in the heart of the dome, the third stage takes place: burning, shining and reaching unity.

Maybe these architectural features and spiritual concepts, along with the national dignity of this collection, were among the reasons for its quick registration in the list of Iran's national monuments; An action that can help preserve the scenic privacy of Shams Court for many years and keep it away from the damage of irregular urban constructions. That too in a city like Khoi, which experienced devastating earthquakes a few years ago.

Since the main idea of building this building was to create a place for mystics, researchers and scientists to visit and to form a tourist route from Khoy to Konya, from Shams to Rumi, they have also considered a specialized library for it. This library is named after Professor Mohammad Ali Mohad, the author of the book "Step by Step to Meeting God", and currently contains about 8,000 volumes of books related to Shams and Rumi, mysticism and literature. Another historical monument in this area is a cylindrical and brick minaret with stone foundations, which was left over from a series of royal palaces and gardens from the Safavid period. Some attribute its date to older periods, including the Seljuks.

The middle body of this minaret is decorated with ram's horns and skull and has 28 decorative rows. This minaret is the survivor of three minarets; Two other minarets have been destroyed over time due to war, flood and natural factors.

The tomb attributed to Shams Tabrizi was previously located next to this historic minaret, but when the new court was built, it was moved under the dome. It was not possible to build a court in the direct vicinity of the minaret; Because this work has been registered in the list of national works since 1352 and has an approved privacy.

To protect the privacy and view of the historical minaret, a certain distance was considered, and the architecture of the courthouse was designed in such a way that this privacy is respected, both in terms of height and distance. For this reason, the tomb attributed to Shams Tabrizi was moved under the new dome with special rituals.

For example, Tehran's Nature Bridge, a structure designed by Leila Araghian, a young Iranian architect, was opened in 2013. This building brought many prestigious international awards to Iran; including the Aga Khan Architecture Award in 2016, one of the most important architectural awards in the world.

Despite the fact that the CEO of Abbasabad Lands has repeatedly announced that the necessary documents for the national registration of the Bridge of Nature have been sent to the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, this structure has not yet been registered in the list of national monuments of Iran. Even though many consider it the modern symbol of Tehran today.