Iran (ancient Persia) is arid: it lacks water and abundant vegetation. Much of Iran consists of level barren plains stretching as far as the eye can see. For much of the year it is unbearably hot! From the "Paradise Gardens" of King Darius the Great (521-485 B.C.E) until today, Persian gardens have been shaped as a natural reaction to these severe conditions.
Enclosed
Fertile and Rich in Fruits and Flowers
Water, Coolness, and Shade
In the seventh century, Arabs conquered Persia and brought with them the new message of Islam. Soon after, Islam spread throughout Syria, Egypt, north Africa, and not long after, Spain and Turkey. The Islamic world freely adapted the Persian garden form, newly infused with religious symbolism from the Koran.
In the Koran, the abode of the blessed, where the faithful go after death, is a garden containing all of the delights usually absent in the climate of most of the Arab world. Paradise is enclosed by walls; it has gates and gate keepers. Beautiful boys and maidens serve the faithful in a setting of luxurious vegetation and ever-flowing fountains.
Fountains and rivers are dominant features in the Paradise of the Koran (Sura 55). One phrase commonly repeated is "gardens underneath which rivers flow" or "gardens of Eden, underneath which rivers flow." In Sura 47 four rivers of Paradise are mentioned, reminiscent of the four rivers of the Hebrew Garden of Eden:
This is the Paradise which the righteous have been promised. There shall flow in it rivers of unpolluted water, and rivers of milk forever fresh; rivers of delectable wine and rivers of clearest honey. They shall eat therein of every fruit and receive forgiveness from their lord.
The fourfold symbolic division of the garden by running water is the dominant feature of the design of many Islamic gardens.
Key Elements:
Water, shade, color, natural music
Sparing use of water
Shade from trees and pavilions
Colorful accents by flowering plants and exterior architecture
Music from splashing jets, caged birds, chimes
No statues (prohibited by the Koran)
Farmanieh: One of the great late-nineteenth-century residences in Tehran
Bagh-e Fin, Kashan: a sixteenth century garden which occupies a tract of six and one-half acres; it is surrounded by a high wall whose south facade is pierced by a monumental two-level gateway and which has four towers at its corners. The garden has several basins located on the axes of its promenades, including a large basin that along with the pavilion occupies the center of the square tract.
Hezar-Jarib, Isfahan: A late-seventeenth-century engraving showing a view of the garden seen by Chardin.
Persian Garden Carpet