In the fifteenth century, the introduction of gunpowder revolutionized warfare and rendered the previously impregnable walled fortifications of cities weak and defenseless. It led to an arms race that reorganized political boundaries and shifted the mindset of Christian and Muslim regimes. While nation states were being built in Europe during the Renaissance, powerful Muslim empires were taking roots in North Africa, India and the Middle East. Safavid Persia rose in 1500 with the crowning of shah Ismail, but the glory days of its new capital Isfahan came under the leadership of Shah Abbas I (1587-1629). The capital’s relocation to central Persia was prompted by a need to move it away from the troubled western border as well as by a desire to consolidate the state religion, develop state capitalism and establish the
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Persia is no different but its political language of monumental squares truly distinguishes it from traditional Islamic architectural themes. Its crown jewel, the Maidan-i-Naqsh-i-Jahan, was part of Shah Abbas’ drastic transformation of the city as he shifted its nucleus south towards the river. This new center of the Safavid world echoes the way Communist Beijing shifted its zero point south to Tiananmen Square to announce the dawn of a new era. The gigantic square’s arcaded façade was interrupted at each cardinal point by four massive gateways that led to the Royal Bazaar on the north, the Shah Mosque on the south, the mosque of Sheikh Lutfullah on the east, and to the Imperial Palace on the west. The gateways towered above their respective sides of the plaza and symbolized the integration in the maidan of every aspect of urban, economic, political and religious life. The large, empty space of the Maidan-i-Naqsh-i-Jahan had a myriad of purposes, but its main one was to reflect the power of Shah Abbas, as only a king could create such a space in a crowded
Persia is no different but its political language of monumental squares truly distinguishes it from traditional Islamic architectural themes. Its crown jewel, the Maidan-i-Naqsh-i-Jahan, was part of Shah Abbas’ drastic transformation of the city as he shifted its nucleus south towards the river. This new center of the Safavid world echoes the way Communist Beijing shifted its zero point south to Tiananmen Square to announce the dawn of a new era. The gigantic square’s arcaded façade was interrupted at each cardinal point by four massive gateways that led to the Royal Bazaar on the north, the Shah Mosque on the south, the mosque of Sheikh Lutfullah on the east, and to the Imperial Palace on the west. The gateways towered above their respective sides of the plaza and symbolized the integration in the maidan of every aspect of urban, economic, political and religious life. The large, empty space of the Maidan-i-Naqsh-i-Jahan had a myriad of purposes, but its main one was to reflect the power of Shah Abbas, as only a king could create such a space in a crowded