Iranian architecture or Persian architecture is the architecture of Iran and parts of the rest of West Asia, the Caucasus and Central Asia. Its history dates back to at least 5,000 BC with characteristic examples distributed over a vast area from Turkey and Iraq to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, and from the Caucasus to Zanzibar. Persian buildings vary greatly in scale and function, from vernacular architecture to monumental complexes. In addition to historic gates, palaces, and mosques, the rapid growth of cities such as the capital Tehran has brought about a wave of demolition and new construction.
Azadi Tower in Tehran (1971), by architect Hossein Amanat. His ideas were based upon classical and post-classical Iranian architecture.
The ruins of Persepolis, begun in the 6th century BC during the Achaemenid Empire
Example of an iwan and muqarnas decoration at the entrance of the Shah Mosque in Isfahan (17th century)
Si-o-se Pol, one of the bridges of Isfahan
Arthur Upham Pope was an American scholar, art historian, and architecture historian. He was an expert on historical Persian art, and he was the editor of the Survey of Persian Art (1939). Pope was also a university professor of philosophy and aesthetics, an archaeologist, photographer, museum director, interior designer, and the co-founder of an international scholarly organization.
Pope (c. 1952)
House of Ghavam, where the Pahlavi University Asia Institute was founded
Mausoleum of Arthur Pope and his wife Phyllis Ackerman in Isfahan
