The Lost Proportions of Qajarid Vistas (original) (raw)

Abstract

The inclination of Qajarid kings in establishing both urban and suburban gardens, attests to their preference both a rural as well as an urban lifestyle. Although these gardens were found all over the Iranian territory at the time, the number, the scale, and the intricate design of gardens created in the Qajarid capital Tehran, surpassed those of all the other cities. By the end of Naser al-Din Shah's rule, there were more than 80 gardens inside the city and almost 35 gardens outside the city walls. There is evidence that suggests the royal family favored the suburban gardens, and many of the urban gardens were actually residences and not mere places of leisure for the nobility. The insistence of the royal family in keeping their suburban pleasure gardens meant that with the urban sprawl many of these gardens experienced a state of neglect, or a change of function. One such case is the Lalezar Garden. Presumed to have been an ancient garden dating back to the Safavid era, it was reused as a royal garden close to the city during the Fath-Ali Shah's reign (1797-1834 AD). However, by the end of the nineteenth century, it had undergone a series of conversions including a royal pleasure garden, a guesthouse for foreign envoys, and even a menagerie. The remaining documents describe Lalezar as an ensemble of several consecutive gardens, all under the same name, but encompassing several pavilions (kooshks) arranged over an elongated north-south axis. The dimensions of the main axis, as well as the arrangement of the pavilions along the axis are a certain evidence for a discernment of extended vistas during this era. This chapter provides a review of diverse data available and focuses on an analysis of proportion and geometric composition of landscape elements, which is exclusive to this era and discontinued with the disappearance of these gardens.

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