Traditional Tiles And Tile-works: Main Features Of The Indigenous Architecture Of Iran Volume VI

Traditional tiles and tile-works, as a custom-made works of art, are widely used for the decorations of the buildings in
the indigenous architecture of Iran. The indigenous (or the clay) architecture of Iran is a unique architectural genre characterized by the use of such building materials as clay, sun-backed bricks, kaahegel, based bricks. It has been developed after many centuries of trial and error and has been perfected by the A.D. 18th century. It is also credited for the use of vaulted ceilings by the use of mud-bricks or baked bricks. This genre of architecture is rooted to the Sumerian time (c. 5000 B.C.).

The indigenous architecture of Iran has some noted characteristics or landmarks or features. Such features may be classified as: 1) filpoosh (English: squinch) for the circular-based dome executed atop four square walls; 2) majmoo'ah (a complex, a group, or a set; a group of public buildings such as a mosque, a theological school, a tea-house, a baazaar, and a ground water reservoir in one section of a city within a short walking distance near to each other); 3)traditional houses with traditional wooden doors; 4) koochehe (a narrow alleyway) and clay buttress (kheshti saabaat); 5) baadgeir ( a wind-catching or an air-suction tower); 6) traditional tiles and tile-works;7) muqarnass decoration for a vault; 8) baazaar or the traditional shopping center; 9) caravansaries, as stopping lodges in the ancient silk road, for the caravans that were carrying goods and travelers from China to Syria and that were passing through Iran; 10) Castles of Iran; and 11) Palaces of Iran; and 12) art works including wall paintings in the palaces.From about mid-20th century, however, many features of the indigenous architecture of Iran have been abandoned or demolished to be replaced by modern and multi-story buildings.

The present series seeks both to put on a record as well as to bring to the attention of viewers a pictorial introduction of the main features of the indigenous architecture of Iran as a unique architectural genre that is weathering a strong wave of modernization.

The revised, 2022 edition of Volume VI of this series introduces and displays samples of the traditionally produced tiles and tile-works, which are executed as custom-made decorations for the walls and domes, in different historic cities of Iran.