Eram Garden, Shiraz, Fars Province, Iran

The first instances of gardens, as what we understand from the term today, began when the wild fruit trees were fenced for protection from the animals and other human. Later, Humans added another aspect to the practical function of such oases and the gardens became a deliberate attempt in imitating nature. The earliest traces of garden making in Iran goes back to the reign of Cyrus, who made a garden in his capital, Pasargadae, in a quadripartite arrangement. This garden was the beginning of a style of garden arranging which is known as Iranian Garden. The Iranian attempted to recreate an image of their Utopia or Paradise with this construct. Iran is a dry country and water is very precious for its people, naturally, garden as the manifestation of the abundance of water has an important place in the Iranian culture.

The Iranian Garden is an oasis surrounded by protective walls that have both technical and philosophical function. The technical aspect comes from the need to protect the garden against animals and people, as well as, the need to keep the inside moister and modify the weather. The philosophical purpose reflects that aspect of Iranian culture which emphasizes on separation of inner and outer spaces; this culture was intensified with the advent and flourishment of Islam.

Entering this garden is possible through a portal entrance that yet again is a reminder of the importance of the inner spaces. The visitors could not just pass through the door and enter the garden. This walled space acts as a filter for the garden to control those who had the permission to go inside and those who had to be rejected. Passing the portal entrance, you enter the garden that may be built on a flat or sloped land.

Fin Garden, Kashan, Isfahan Province, Iran

As it was mentioned, the Iranian garden has a quadripartite arrangement; it means that the garden was divided into four sections by the water channels that ran through it. On the side of the water channels shading trees like Pine, Poplar and Cypress were planted to save the passing areas from the sun and heat. Each of the four sections created a small garden that were filled with fruit trees and flowers. At the cross axis where the vertical watercourse reached the horizontal one, an artificial pond was made and just next to it, a Pavilion was constructed. If the garden has a flat setting, the cross axes and pavilion are made in the middle of the garden; but if it has slope then the garden will have a tripartite plan and the cross axes and pavilion are placed in the upper one-third of the garden adding to the garden’s length by creating optical illusion.

Naturally, passage of time caused changes to the original plan used in the Achaemenid time. Adding bathhouses to the construct, adding servants sections, changing the usual trees and the omission of pavilion (in Safavid era) are the most notable of these changes. The local social currents and ruler’s taste influenced how a garden would turn out until the Qajar Era, when the slightly changed Iranian Garden was remodeled based on the European Gardens. The small flower mounds, the bordering of passages with boxwoods, the shaping of trees and the use of statues are all the legacy of Qajar. They were not the first to make changes in the Garden but they were the first to make so many changes.

In general, surrounding walls, watercourses that ran through the garden, the portal entrance, the pavilion and all the shading and fruit trees are the main parts of a Iranian Garden.

In 2011, UNESCO registered the combination of nine Iranian gardens as a World Heritage which are as follows:

1. Garden of Pasargadae, Fars Province
2. Chehel Sotoun, Isfahan, Isfahan Province
3. Fin Garden, Kashan, Isfahan Province
4. Eram Garden, Shiraz, Fars Province
5. Shazdeh Garden, Mahan, Kerman Province
6. Dowlat Abad Garden, Yazd, Yazd Province
7. Abbas Abad Garden, Abbas Abad, Mazandaran Province
8. Akbarieh Garden, Birjand, South Khorasan Province
9. Pahlavanpur Garden, Mehriz, Yazd Province

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Shush is one of the oldest residential places of the world that is located in Khuzestan province, and was inhabited from 4200 BC. The ancient Shush was chosen as a capital from the time of Elamite to Achaemenian. During Elamite era, the city used to be a religious center and at the time of Achaemenian, it was used as the winter capital. In addition, this area is the witness of two great civilizations, Mesopotamia and the civilization of Iran plateau. The two powerful civilization of the time met here and affected one another; hence, the city includes several number archeological sites belonging to different region and cultures. The mixture of styles and cultures is the most notable feature of the city that tells a lot about the state of the place at its prime.

Ancient city of Shush includes a wide area of diverse architectural structures from prehistoric to Islamic period. The nomination file of the city that was presented to UNESCO consisted of Apadana Palace, East Gate, Hadish, the 15^th City or Imperial City, the Achaemenes Village, the Artaxerxes palace, the Jam-e mosque of Shush, the collection of Islamic monuments, the Acropolis hills and French castle, and was inscribed in 2015. Due to the diversity of places and the fact that they all have a long history, here just a brief introduction to the more famous constructs is presented. Beside the archeological monuments, the stuff of Shush has some features, which is distinguishing from others.

Shush Castel (Acropolis)

Acropolis is a Greek word that shows the importance of the place and used for the highest place in a city. Acropolis castle or Shush castle was constructed by the French archeological group that was headed by Jean-Marie Jacques de Morgan in 1897 for keeping the extraction of archeological findings, and as a dwelling place for the archeological team. This castle was built on the highest place of Shush hills and in form of medieval castles, in shape of trapezius. The base of this structure is bricks gained from Darrius palace and some engraved bricks from Chughazanbil. Before the revolution the castle was used by French, today it is used as an archeological center. Code of Hammurabi and the famous pottery mug of Shush with a mountain goat painted on it were found out this hill.

Apadana

Apadana palace was built by the order of Darrius the great from 515 to 521 AD in Shush on the remnants of the Elamites edifice. The palace walls were built of adobe that were covered with brick facades and its pillars were made of stone. Apadana palace includes reception hall, gateway, haram and courtyards. The interior of the palace used to be decorated with the plan of imperial guard soldiers, winged lions, and lilies that are all kept in museums both foreign and national. The plan of Apadana is like a pavilion with three columned iwan in north, east and west side that each iwan has two rows of six columns. There are also six courtyard connecting the different part of palace that provided the needed light and air circulation in the indoor and outdoor spaces. The central hall of the palace is a square with 58 m long sides and has 36 pillars each 22 m high. Some Significant parts of the Apadana palace caught fire when Artaxerxes I (461 BC) held the throne. Later, when Artaxerxes II (359 BC) became the king, he ordered the palace to be restored. Alexander the great destroyed the entire city in 320 BC.

Royal city

Royal city stands in the south west of Apadana and is a mixture of different eras of history starting from Elamite time and continuing to Achaemenian, Sassanid, pertain, Seleucid and at last to Islamic period. From 1964 to 1967, the site was excavated and studied by professor Ghirshman and during his studies, 15 layers of occupation was discovered that the last layer or 15^th layer belonged to the final years of Elamite ruling. At the end of Achaemenian Dynasty the city was surrounded by a fortified wall that was attached to the Shavur River.

Artaxerxes Palace (Shavur Palace)

The remnants of this palace is located opposite of tomb of Daniel (the prophet) and in the west of Shavur River, and that is where the name Shavur Palace comes from. Artaxerxes palace has a square shape, and was designed with stone pillars, adobe walls and some side facilities. The palace was built during the ruling of Artaxerxes and used to be his residence and seat of government.

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57 kilometers from Zabol in Sistan and Baluchistan Province there is an ancient city known as Shahr-e Sukhte (Shahr-e Sukhteh, Shahr-I Sokhta) or Burned City that gave new insight to the life of people in Bronze Age. We are talking about the time that human became civilized enough no to bury dead bodies under the houses. Over 5 thousand years ago, the bank of the vast river of Helmand became the dwelling place of a group of people from Chalcolithic age. Being near a great body of water made the place a very fertile and green land with lush pastures and pleasant whether that was ideal for agriculture and animal husbandry. As the time passed, the small village became a city that in its zenith inhabited 5 to 8 thousand people. The magnitude of the city, its population, and the finds of archeological excavations displays that the life in Bronze Age was far more advanced than what we expected.

For the first time Sir Aurel Stein, the Hungarian-British archeologist known for his excavations in Central Asia, introduced this place as an archeological site, but the real excavation began 40 years later, in 1960, by an Italian Mission that worked on the Burned City. The city is one of the few Iranian historical sites that is presented in the Archeological Societies all around the world since it gives a lot of information about the life, religion, tradition and occupations of people in Bronze Age.

The magnitude of the city, its population, and the finds of archeological excavations displays that the life in Bronze Age was far more advanced than what we expected.

The city is scattered over an area of 150 hectares and is divided to 4 main sections. First, there is the broad central area that is 20 hectares, followed by the residential area with 16 hectares, and then the artisan area of the northeast, and at last the cemetery on the southwest. There is no trace of a building similar to a temple but there is a massive construct that was probably used as a public place and might have had religious use.

The architectural style of the city is best witnessed in the houses that are 90 to 160 m². The houses have 6 to 10 rooms built around a central yard; the houses lack any food storage that shows that the government did the process of saving crops for the colder months of year. The houses are built with bricks that are 12_*20_*40 cm and filled with mud, wood and mat.

The excavations on burial grounds of the city led to the finding of 310 graves. What the archeologists got from the grave shocked the world. In one of them the body of a woman with a glass eye was found, the woman is about 25-30 years old and biracial. Although the substance that the eye was made from is unknown, its decoration is magnificent. The capillaries are made from gold and the pupil is drawn in the center surrounded by diamond like shapes. A brainteaser game was derived from another grave that is similar to Backgammon; it consists of a board and about 60 beads. The most prominent of the findings of the city was from the grave of a 13-year-old girl that had the traces of a brain surgery on his skull. The girl suffered from Hydrocephalus and the physician of this ancient city successfully operated on her and save her life, she was alive 6-9 months after the surgery but died due to unknown reasons. Beside the mentioned items, the biggest collection of fabrics of prehistoric time and the oldest inlay work of Iran was retrieved from the graves.

The variety of burial traditions proves that people followed different traditions and the style of the city shows that it was one of the major trading centers of the world.

The variety of burial traditions proves that people followed different traditions and the style of the city shows that it was one of the major trading centers of the world. Numerous workshops were producing products used in barter transactions. The most common of these jobs are masonry, pottery, Mat weaving, Knitting, Sculpturing, Jewelry making, Hunting, Agriculture, and trading. Archeologists believe that one of the main reasons behind the city’s destruction was a fire that burned great parts of it. In UNESCO’s 38th session of committee held on July 22, 2014 The Burned City of Sistan was registered as a World Heritage.

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