Studying the Abash Khatūn (Khatūn Qīyamat) tomb in Shīrāz and its architecture by historical documents and existing evidence

Document Type : Research Article

Author

Associate Professor, Interior Architecture Deportment, Shiraz University of Arts, Shiraz , Iran

Abstract

The tomb of "Abash Khatūn" or "Khatūn-e Qīyamat" is part of the lesser-known architectural heritage of Shīrāz, which its attribution to Attābak Abash is a point of dispute, and due to the extensive destructions of the last century, a small part of it is left. The importance of this research is that this mansion is one of the few buildings that have remained in Shīrāz from the Safavid era or before. For this reason, the study of architecture and its decorations can clarify at least a part of the Safavid heritage. The aim of the current research is to obtain a narrative of this building and its surroundings based on the evaluation of existing hypotheses and to prepare the visual reconstruction of this building. This research tries to answer these questions: what is the background of the building and what was the role of the governors and women supporters in its formation and prosperity? What features do the available visual evidence of this building reveal? And how is the architecture, geometry of the building and its decorations? The research method is "interpretive-historical". The results show that this field found its initial form as "Mashad Umm Kolsūm" in the days of Dilmian (11th) and flourished in the Seljuk era. The greatest contribution to the prosperity of this field is in the first half of the 14th century when it became "Al-Solghor Cemetery". Attābak Abash built a rabat named after himself and later Kurduchin built a new mansion or returned Abash Khatūn's body to the same rabat. Studying the available documents, especially the photos and maps, show that from the 19th to the 21th centuries, this building has always been known as the "Khatūn Qīyamat". The building has symmetrical geometry in plan; depth of the north-west and southeast sides of the arches are more than the other two sides. This issue is evident both in the remains of the walls and in historical photos. Any comment about the tomb entrance will be wrong. However, it can only be assumed that the entrance of the building on the northwest side was one of the weakest parts of the building because its wall was the most destroyed over time. Probably, the final height of the building was about 22 meters and the interior of the dome was decorated with simple applications that have not been left. The exterior decorations of the building are limited to simple brickwork and mosaic tiles. The most important decoration of the building and its only remaining inscription is an inscription in the Thuluth without date and author's name, which includes up to the middle of the 10th verse of Surah Fath of the Qur'an. Although it is decorated with mosaic tiles, its square plan and symmetrical view are such that the "ratio of height to width" and "the height of the external dome" all reminiscent of the construction pattern of the tower tombs of the Ilkhanid period, which perhaps got their current form with successive restorations in the early Safavid era.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

Afsar, Kerāmat Elah. (1974). History of the old Shīrāz. Tehrān: Publications of the National Art Association. (in Persian).
Aigle, Denise. (2022). Le Fars sous la domination mongole: Politique et fisccalite. Translated by Zahra Fallah Shahroudi. Tehran: Abee Parsi. (in Persian).
Behrouzi, Alinaqi. (1968). Historical monuments and artworks of Shīrāz. Shīrāz: Publications of the General Department of Culture and Art of Fars Province. (in Persian).
Bosworth, Clifford Edmund. (2011). Atābakān Fārs: Seljuks. Seljuks, Translated and edited by Yaghoub Azhand 254-257. Tehran: Moula Publication. (in Persian).
Bydawi, Qadi Nasir-ud-Din. (1930). Nixam-Ut-Tawarikh (A General History of Iran). Hydarabab-Deccan: Tarikh Press.
Byron, Robert. (1937). The road to Oxiana. Great Britain: R. & R. Clark.
Chardin, Jean. (1735). Voyages du chevalier Chardin en Perse, et autres lieux de l'Orient… Contenant une Description particuliere d'Ispahan; & amp; la Relation des deux Voyages de l'Auteur, D'Ispahan à Bander-Abassi. Amsterdam: De la Compagnie. http://resolver.sub.uni-goettingen.de/purl?PPN688540732. (accessed 27 December 2022).
Ebay. Antique Print-Topography-View of the city of Shiraz in Iran-De Bruyn-1711. https://www.ebay.de/itm/374465652410. (accessed February 3, 2023).
Emdād, Hassan. (1960). Rahnamai-e Asar Tārikhi Pārs. Shīrāz: Honarestān.
Faẕlollāh Shīrāzi, Sharaf-alddin Abdullāh. (1967). Editing the history of Wassāf. By Abd al-Muhammad Ayati. Tehrān: Publications of Iranian culture Foundation. (in Persian).
Fine Arts Library, Harvard College Library Copyright: Conway Library, Courtauld Institute of Art.  https://archnet.org/collections/18/media_contents/40207. (accessed January 26, 2023).
Forsat-e Shīrāzi, Mohammad Nasir, 1998, Asār-e-Ajam. Volume 2, Edited by Mansour Rostgar Fasa'i, Tehran: Amir Kabir Publishing. (in Persian).
General Research Division, The New York Public Library. Chiraz. Plan topographique. - Vue et détails de la ruine Takht-Mader-i-Souleiman. New York Public Library Digital Collections. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e2-8f98-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99. (accessed January 13, 2023).
Groot, Linda; Wang, David. (2014). Research methods in architecture. Translated by Alireza Einifar. Tehran: Tehran University Press. (in Persian).
Homām al-Din Hosseini, Ghiyas al-Din (Khānd Mir). (2001). History of Habib-o Saīr fi Akhbār-e afrād-e bashar. Correction by Muhammad Dabir Siaqi. Tehrān: Khayām Publication. (in Persian).
Hosseini-e Fasāei, Mirza Hasan, (1999). Farsnāmeh Nāseri. Volumes 2, Edited by Mansour Rostgar Fasa'i, Tehran: Amir Kabir Publishing. (in Persian).
Jonaid-e Shīrāzi, Moinuddin Abolqāsem. (1985). Tāzkareh Hazār Mazār (translation of Shadalazar (Mazarats of Shiraz)) written by Isa bin Jonaid-e Shīrāzi, Edited by Noorani Vesal, Shīrāz: Shīrāz Ahmadi Library Publication. (in Persian).
Mehrāz, Rahmattollah. (1969) Bozorgan-e Shīrāz. Tehran: Anjaman Asar Melli Publications. (in Persian).
Mehyār, Mohammad; Fethullahyev, Shamil; Fakhari-Tehrāni, Farhād; Qadiri, Bahrām. (1999). Visual documents of historical Iranian cities of the Qajar period. Tehrān: Shahid Beheshti University and Cultural Heritage Organization of the country. (in Persian).
Memarian, Gholāmhossein. (2018). Iranian architect; Nearsh. Edited by Hādi Safaipur. Tehrān: Goljām Publication. (in Persian).
Mirzāabolgāsemi, Mohammad Sādeq. (2008). The Monumental Inscriptions of Fars; Monuments of 13th to 16th Century. Tehran: Iranian Academy of the Arts. (in Persian).
Nahvi, Akbar. (2011). A Footnote of Shīrāznāmeh. Abu al-Abbās Moin al-Din Ahmed bin Shahāb al-Din Abi al-Khair Zarkūb Shīrāzi, Shīrāz: Fārs Cultural and Research Institute. (in Persian).
Niebuhr, Carsten. (1778).  Reisebeschreibung nach Arabien und andern umliegenden Ländern. Volume 2. Copenhagen: Möller.
Qazvini, Muhammad bin Abdul Wahab bin Abdul Ali. (1984). Qazvini notes. Edited by Iraj Afshar. Tehran: Scientific Publications. (in Persian).
Sāmi, Ali. (1958). Shīrāz, Shahr-e S‘adi and Hāfez Shahr-e Gol va Bulbul. Shīrāz: Mousavi publication. (in Persian).
Shāh Balkhī, Muhammad bin Khāvand. (1994). Rowzat al-Safā. Edited and summarized by Abbās Zaryāb. Tehrān: Elmi Publications. (in Persian).
Smithsonian Institute, Ernst Herzfeld Papers. FSA.A.06. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Gift of Ernst Herzfeld. (1946). https://collections.si.edu/search/results.htm?q=record_ID=FSA.A.06_ref28319&repo=DPLA. (accessed January 26, 2023).
Wilber, N.Donald. (2008).  The Masjid-l Atiq of Shiraz. Translated by Afra Bank. Tehran: Iranian Academy of the Arts. (in Persian).
Wilber, N.Donald. (2014). The Architecture of Islamic Iran: The IlKhanid Period. Translated by Abdollah Faryar. Tehran: Elmi and Farhangi. (in Persian).
Zarkūb Shīrāzi, Abu al-Abbas Moin al-Din Ahmed bin Shahāb al-Din Abi al-Khair. (2011). Shīrāznameh. Corrected and explained by Akbar Nahvi, Shīrāz: Fārs Cultural and Research Institute. (in Persian)
Journal of Architecture in Hot and Dry Climate
Volume 11, Issue 1
November 2023
Pages 41-57

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics