Golestan Palace, Tehran’s Oldest Monument | ||
Golestan Palace, Tehran’s Oldest Monument Golestan Palace is the former royal Qajar complex in Iran’s capital city. History The Court and Golestan Palace became the official residence of the royal Qajar family. The palace was rebuilt in its current form in 1865 by Haji Abol Hassan Mimar Navai. During the Pahlavi era (1925–1979) Golestan Palace was used for formal royal receptions and the Pahlavi dynasty built their own palace at Niavaran. The most important ceremonies held in the Palace during the Pahlavi era were the coronation of Reza Khan (r. 1925-1941) in Takht-e Marmar and the coronation of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (r. 1941-deposed 1979) in the Museum Hall. In between 1925 and 1945 a large portion of the buildings of the palace were destroyed on the orders of Reza Shah who believed that the centuries old Qajar palace should not hinder the growth of a modern city. In place of the old buildings, modern 1950s and 1960s style commercial buildings were erected. Golestan Palace Complex consists of 17 palaces, museums, and halls. Almost the entire complex was built during 200 years of Qajar kings’ reign. These palaces were used for many different occasions such as coronation and other important celebrations. The spectacular terrace known as Takht-e Marmar (Marble Throne) was built in 1806 on the order of Fath Ali Shah Qajar (r. 1797-1834). Adorned by paintings, marble-carvings, tile-work, stucco, mirrors, enamel, woodcarvings, and lattice windows; the throne embodies the finest of Iranian architecture. The Marble Throne is one of the oldest buildings of the historic Arg. The existing throne, which is situated in the middle of the terrace (iwan), is made of the famous yellow marble of Yazd province. The throne is made of sixty-five pieces of marble and was designed by Mirza Baba Naghash Bashi (head painter) of the Qajar court. The architectural details and other ornaments of the terrace (iwan) were completed during the reigns of Fath Ali Shah and Nasser-ol-Din Shah (r. 1848-1896). Khalvat-e Karim Khani Dating back to 1759, this building was a part of the interior residence of Karim Khan Zand. The basic structure of the Khalvat-e Karim Khani is similar to Takht-e Marmar. Like the latter, it is a terrace (iwan). There is a small marble throne inside the terrace. The structure is much smaller than Takht-e Marmar and it has much less ornamentation. There was once a small pond with a fountain in the middle of this terrace. Water from a subterranean stream (the king’s qanat) flowed from the fountain into the pond and was later used to irrigate the Palace grounds. Howz Khaneh The Howz Khaneh was used as a summer chamber during the Qajar era. A special cooling system pumped water from a subterranean system of streams (qanats) -- in this case the king’s qanat-- into small ponds inside the chambers. Howz means pond, thus the name Howz Khaneh. The system was designed to pass through as many summer rooms as was necessary. The water was then channeled outside to irrigate the royal gardens. Due to the harmful effects of humidity, this system is no longer in use. Negar Khaneh Nasser-ol-Din Shah was very impressed by the exhibition of artifacts and valuable objects at European museums during his second European tour around 1872. He returned to Tehran intent on building a museum hall to exhibit paintings, royal jewels, and other royal artifacts. The original collection of the museum hall is now scattered among Tehran’s many museums. However, the paintings of the royal court are now kept at the Golestan Palace --with the European paints housed in the Howz Khaneh and the works of Iranian painters housed in the Negar Khaneh. Meant to show the evolution of painting in Iran during the Qajar era, the works of Iranian painters are exhibited in two sections. Housed in the southern part of Negar Khaneh are the works of early Qajar masters such as Mirza Baba, Mehr Ali Afshar, Ali Akbar Khan Mozaien-ol-Douleh, Abol Hassan Sani (Sanie-ol-Molk) who was Kamal-ol-Molk’s uncle.
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