Iran Part 7: اصفهان, Esfahān
Jul. 19th, 2015 05:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
motodraconisqAaaaahhh! Esfahan! (Isfahan.) A nexus of culture and beauty! ‘Isfahan among those rarer places, like Athens or Rome, which are the common refreshment of humanity’. (Robert Byron, author of the 1937 travelogue The Road to Oxiana.)
Truly, we eagerly awaited our arrival in this, ‘Esfahan nesf-e jahan’ (Esfahan is half the world)
First off, the vast میدان نقش جهان Maidān-e Naqsh-e Jahān - Image of the World Square and Iman Mosque...
With gorgeous vaulting...
As a non-muslim, how would you know if the mosque you are visiting is used by Shia or Sunni? Well, Prayer Stones.
I've never seen such before, but then why would I, since all the mosques I have previously visited have been Sunni - so I had to have the stones explained to me.
مسجد شیخ لطف الله Sheik Lotfallah Mosque. The private mosque of the Royal Family, there is a tunnel running under the square connecting the mosque to the Royal Palace, so that the harem could traverse unpestered and unseen.
The Royal عالی قاپو Ali Qapu Palace here the music room, with the most unusual acoustic roof decoration.
چهل ستون Chehel Sotun Palace an absolute gem!
Full of gorgeous paintings...
Including this controversial painting of a man kissing the foot of a woman (a dancing girl no less!) This was very nearly destroyed after the revolution, but the caretakers of the palace went to a lot of trouble to hide many of the palace paintings from destruction. It was too dark for me to take a picture of controversial! painting, so this image is from the internet.
Though there seemed to be a couple of other dodgy paintings...not sure what is occurring here...
One of the first surprises of visiting Persian Palaces is that most of them have a couple of paintings of exotic foreign types... such as this topless European Woman, in Ali Qapu Palace. And Chehel Sotun is decorated on it's outside walls with more Europeans in their crazy clothes.
More exotic foreigners, European and Asian, well it was a crossing point of culture via the Silk Road. Traders and dignitaries? The European men always look like characters from the Three Musketeers. Visiting Frenchies perhaps! The French have long had links to Persia.
An unexpected surprise of gorgeousness was the Christian Vank Cathedral in the Armenian District of New Julfa
"Although Armenians have a long history of interaction with Persia/Iran, Iran's Armenian community emerged when Shah Abbas relocated an estimated 500,000 Armenians [at the time being persecuted by the Ottomans] from northeastern historic Armenia to an area of Isfahan called New Julfa and the villages surrounding Isfahan in the early 17th century, which was created to become an Armenian quarter. Iran quickly recognized the Armenians' dexterity in commerce. The community became active in the cultural and economic development of Iran." Armenia in the Age of Columbus.
The New Julfa area has a reputation for being the area where the cool kids hang out to eat pizza in posh restaurants and pose on the street with their fancy scooters.
Hell!
The perfect gift for a titty woman.
We popped into the next door Armenian Church Museum
Museum Piece...
Just chillin' with ma lion...
Such a soulful, curly-haired boy FINGERING A DIRTY GREAT AXE!
AAAAAARRRRRGGGH! DOGFACEMAN!
One of the 3 beautiful bridges of Esfahan, I think we didn't have time to see the best one alas.
So that was Esfahan, where I cracked and bought all (bar one gift) of my souvenirs, 2 carpets, 2 Khatam boxes (one was a gift, but very hard to give away) and 2 pieces of jewellery. There's a rather deadly bazaar circling the square. Ooops.
Worth every penny. Sadly (or perhaps thankfully) non-Iranian credit and debit cards won't work in Iran, except in the posh carpet shops where the money is routed via Dubai. Just as well, or my bank balance would be in an even worse state!
An Iran Post - how very topical. Those talks were supposed to have wound up while I was there - had they been on time, we'd have been in Tehran during the celebrations. BAH, JUST MISSED IT!
Truly, we eagerly awaited our arrival in this, ‘Esfahan nesf-e jahan’ (Esfahan is half the world)
First off, the vast میدان نقش جهان Maidān-e Naqsh-e Jahān - Image of the World Square and Iman Mosque...
With gorgeous vaulting...
As a non-muslim, how would you know if the mosque you are visiting is used by Shia or Sunni? Well, Prayer Stones.
I've never seen such before, but then why would I, since all the mosques I have previously visited have been Sunni - so I had to have the stones explained to me.
مسجد شیخ لطف الله Sheik Lotfallah Mosque. The private mosque of the Royal Family, there is a tunnel running under the square connecting the mosque to the Royal Palace, so that the harem could traverse unpestered and unseen.
The Royal عالی قاپو Ali Qapu Palace here the music room, with the most unusual acoustic roof decoration.
چهل ستون Chehel Sotun Palace an absolute gem!
Full of gorgeous paintings...
Including this controversial painting of a man kissing the foot of a woman (a dancing girl no less!) This was very nearly destroyed after the revolution, but the caretakers of the palace went to a lot of trouble to hide many of the palace paintings from destruction. It was too dark for me to take a picture of controversial! painting, so this image is from the internet.
Though there seemed to be a couple of other dodgy paintings...not sure what is occurring here...
One of the first surprises of visiting Persian Palaces is that most of them have a couple of paintings of exotic foreign types... such as this topless European Woman, in Ali Qapu Palace. And Chehel Sotun is decorated on it's outside walls with more Europeans in their crazy clothes.
More exotic foreigners, European and Asian, well it was a crossing point of culture via the Silk Road. Traders and dignitaries? The European men always look like characters from the Three Musketeers. Visiting Frenchies perhaps! The French have long had links to Persia.
An unexpected surprise of gorgeousness was the Christian Vank Cathedral in the Armenian District of New Julfa
"Although Armenians have a long history of interaction with Persia/Iran, Iran's Armenian community emerged when Shah Abbas relocated an estimated 500,000 Armenians [at the time being persecuted by the Ottomans] from northeastern historic Armenia to an area of Isfahan called New Julfa and the villages surrounding Isfahan in the early 17th century, which was created to become an Armenian quarter. Iran quickly recognized the Armenians' dexterity in commerce. The community became active in the cultural and economic development of Iran." Armenia in the Age of Columbus.
The New Julfa area has a reputation for being the area where the cool kids hang out to eat pizza in posh restaurants and pose on the street with their fancy scooters.
Hell!
The perfect gift for a titty woman.
We popped into the next door Armenian Church Museum
Museum Piece...
Just chillin' with ma lion...
Such a soulful, curly-haired boy FINGERING A DIRTY GREAT AXE!
AAAAAARRRRRGGGH! DOGFACEMAN!
One of the 3 beautiful bridges of Esfahan, I think we didn't have time to see the best one alas.
So that was Esfahan, where I cracked and bought all (bar one gift) of my souvenirs, 2 carpets, 2 Khatam boxes (one was a gift, but very hard to give away) and 2 pieces of jewellery. There's a rather deadly bazaar circling the square. Ooops.
Worth every penny. Sadly (or perhaps thankfully) non-Iranian credit and debit cards won't work in Iran, except in the posh carpet shops where the money is routed via Dubai. Just as well, or my bank balance would be in an even worse state!
An Iran Post - how very topical. Those talks were supposed to have wound up while I was there - had they been on time, we'd have been in Tehran during the celebrations. BAH, JUST MISSED IT!
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