In the evening, when we arrived and settled into the Isfahan hotel, a girl called our room and, in the purest Russian language, informed us that she was our guide and asked us to be ready for a city tour at eight in the morning the next day.
To our surprise and joy, our guide turned out to be our fellow countrywoman - Aida from Bishkek. At 19, she married an Iranian and has been living in Isfahan for almost 20 years now. To jump ahead, I will say that Aida turned out to be the kindest woman and treated us not as clients, but as relatives. She is a caring and very modest person, who knows the history of Persia and the city of Isfahan in particular very well.
We got into the car, and time flew by, revealing to us the wonders of the ancient Persian city of Isfahan.
- First, some general information, - Aida began her story.
The city of Isfahan is located in the fertile valley of the Zayanderud River, at the foot of the Zagros mountain range. Its elevation above sea level is 1590 meters. Isfahan is 2,500 years old. The city's golden age came during the reign of Shah Abbas I (1581-1629), who once again united Persia. As the residence and capital in the 12th century, Isfahan reached its greatest prosperity, aided by the Great Silk Road that passed through it. The Persians called the capital Naqsh-e Jahan, which means "half of the world," thereby implying that to see Isfahan is to see half of the world. It was indeed one of the largest cities of that world, with a population of about a million residents. There were 160 mosques, about 50 madrasas, 2,000 shops, and 263 public baths...
In the 15th century, with the opening of sea routes, the Silk Road lost its significance, but Isfahan remained and to this day is a national pride of the country. The city was the capital for only about a hundred years, after which in the 18th century, raids by Afghan tribes forced the imperial court to seek refuge in Shiraz.
First and foremost, Isfahan is famous for its central square, around which most of the well-known historical and cultural monuments are located. Through the arched gates, we enter the square. And immediately, the space overwhelms us! To the eye accustomed to the narrowness of the streets of Iranian cities, it seems endless.
Fountains, green alleys, floral islands, well-groomed cypress trees and roses, colorful carts, the sun, the blue sky, the glints of domes, and people strolling leisurely create a festive atmosphere.
- So, before us is Naqsh-e Jahan Square, which translates from Persian as "half of the world," - Aida begins her story. - It is said to be the second largest square in the world after Tiananmen Square in Beijing.
Upon coming to power, Shah Abbas I decided to undertake one of the greatest architectural projects of that time. Moving the capital to Isfahan, he began a great construction effort. According to the Shah's vision, the vast Naqsh-e Jahan Square was to become the central place in the city. Around it would rise mosques, palaces, bazaars, parks, and gardens. On the southern side is the Imam Mosque, on the eastern side is the Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque, and on the western side is the palace of Shah Abbas, now known as the Ali Qapu Palace. The entire square is connected into a single complex by two-story arches and embodies the features and development of the political, economic, and spiritual life of Persia during the Safavid period.
Artisans from all corners of the empire worked for a whole 30 years to build the surrounding buildings. And today, Isfahan is a true historical and architectural exhibition.
- Let's start with the Mosque of the Imam, - invites Aida, - also known as the Imam Khomeini Mosque. This grand complex features majestic portals, minarets, and domes, with marble and glazed ceramics adorning the facades and domes. Two turquoise minarets frame the enormous 27-meter gates. Behind them lies the main dome of the prayer hall, which is 52 meters high. This is the tallest dome in Isfahan.
All the prayer halls are distinguished by luxurious and unique interiors. The acoustics in the Imam Mosque are such that sound is reflected multiple times from the dome and walls, creating a wonderful effect.
We were unlucky: the day before our arrival in Isfahan, a festive prayer was held in the mosque, and the entire central square was covered in scaffolding set up in case of rain, which greatly hindered the view and especially photography.
The construction of the mosque lasted 26 years and has its instructive history, which was told by Rasul Gamzatov, enchanted by the architectural masterpiece of Isfahan:
To itself, drawing the gaze,
Bringing together the edges of earth and sky,
Stands against the ages the Mosque, proudly, in Isfahan.
The mosque was destined,
To be shrouded in the twilight of its mysteries.
Whisper a word in it,
And it floats, voiced, under the dome.
The Ali Qapu Palace is another architectural masterpiece of Shah Abbas. It is located on the western side of the square. It was here that Shah Abbas entertained his high-ranking guests and foreign ambassadors.
Ali Qapu is a massive rectangular structure 42 meters high with six floors and a wide terrace above the facade of the palace. The ceiling of the terrace is supported by wooden columns. The palace was designed as a grand entrance between the palace gardens and the square. Of all the floors, the sixth is perhaps the most interesting. It was here that royal receptions and banquets were held. The decorative frescoes of the banquet halls are filled with images of feasts. The sixth floor is called the music room. Various ensembles performed their music and sang songs for the Shah here.
From the very top gallery, there is a magnificent view of the square. From here, the Persian monarch loved to watch polo games and horse races that took place in the square. It was noted that often, in anticipation of a successful day, Shah Abbas admired the sunrise from the terrace, watching the domes of the mosques glow with gold.
The Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque, which has become the recognized pinnacle of Safavid architecture, is located opposite the Ali Qapu Palace. Shah Abbas built this gem to honor his father-in-law, an outstanding theologian. The construction of the mosque was completed in 1617. It served as a private prayer room, access to which was permitted only to the clergy of the imperial family. Although the mosque cannot compare in splendor to the Imam Mosque, it surpasses it in its elegance, exquisite decoration, and color mosaic, creating a sense of a higher world. The domes are made of beautiful 17th-century red faience and give the vault the shape of a rich carpet, illuminated by soft light. The inscriptions, executed by the great calligrapher of the Safavid dynasty, Ali Reza Abbasi, amaze with their delicacy and craftsmanship. The prayer hall is illuminated by a muted green light. This "sky in diamonds" will leave anyone speechless with delight and amazement.
And the mausoleum of Shah Abbas the Great, almost devoid of any decorations and built from simple bricks, is not so easy to find among the ordinary clay buildings of the 17th century. After the Shah's death, the subjects witnessed yet another miracle of human humility: the Shah bequeathed to be buried in the small town of Kashan, in the modest mausoleum of one of the descendants of the Prophet Muhammad, with whom he was a distant relative on his mother's side.
The Isfahan Bazaar presents itself as a true treasure trove and museum of folk crafts for tourists and guests. Endless workshops and shops, shining showcases - an excursion into the world of a thousand and one nights! The Isfahan Bazaar is a genuine abode of art, where the most interesting artistic ideas were born and realized, enchanting merchants and guests from all corners of the world with their beauty. The bazaar is a separate world, a world of artists and craftsmen, and... Ali Baba's treasure trove. There is everything here: embossed trays, engraved copper, paintings, furniture, brass lamps, miniatures on camel bone, inlaid boxes, painted vases, and plates with unique designs... To the enchanting sound of craftsmen hammering and the melodic calls of the muezzins to prayer, one could wander through this magical world endlessly.
- To help you navigate the depths of the Isfahan Bazaar, I would like to draw your attention to several truly Persian traditional crafts, - Aida suggests. - First of all, these are colorful block-printed patterns on fabrics, which have been made in Persia since ancient times. In Persian, a wooden stamp for decorating fabric is called "kaleb." The pattern usually consists of four stamps. First, the outlines of the future pattern are applied in black to cotton fabric, then other kalebs with dyes of different colors are used to complete it. You need to apply paint to the stamp, press it to a specific spot on the fabric, and strike it with all your might - a fragment of the desired color will be printed on the fabric. Four colors are mainly used - blue, red, black, and orange. The main thing is to hit the stamp precisely on the already printed black outline.
In modern Iran, it is considered prestigious to have a hand-printed tablecloth in the house, with a pattern made from natural dyes. It is said that the colors on them do not fade for a very long time.
- The next direction of Persian artistic creativity is miniatures on camel bone, - Aida notes as we enter a small gallery.
On the walls are several hundred works of various sizes. The main requirement for miniatures is one - all details must be depicted as meticulously as possible. To learn to paint like this takes years of painstaking work. The themes of the drawings are very diverse - scenes from Persian history and literature, Persian beauties, landscapes, everyday scenes in caravanserais...
- Another world-famous direction is Persian carpets. Carpets have been woven in Persia for at least 15 centuries, - Aida explains. - A Persian carpet is distinguished by its bright and finely woven pattern, lightness, and at the same time dense weaving of threads. This is primarily manual work, which takes a lot of time, is authored, and therefore is expensive. The pattern of the Persian carpet has depended on the ruling regimes for many centuries: during Islam, it was forbidden to depict animals and birds, the rule of the Turks brought its own aesthetics to the carpet pattern, and during the Mongol rule, the design was simple with geometric ornamentation. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the ban on animal depictions was lifted, and true carpet masterpieces were created.
Silk carpets from Isfahan are woven in the traditions of Persian art: compositions with a medallion, garden, tree of life. In addition, there is a local composition called "esumi," which represents spiraling tendrils of grapevines, delicate and flexible, connecting small narrative motifs with leaves and flowers.
Following Aida, we entered a spacious shop. On shelves with mirrored walls, plates and bowls, vases and cups shone with bright heavenly colors. All of this is traditional exquisite Persian tableware and not ceramics, as it may seem at first glance. These items are made from zinc sheet and covered with a special layer of enamel, on which artists manually apply the finest painting.
In Imam Khomeini Square, there are many small shops selling locally made samovars: copper and brass, small and very large, considered a symbol of wealth in Iran. They are often displayed in hotel lobbies so that guests know that the establishment is doing excellently.
The square lives its life regardless of the time of day. It only becomes deserted between twelve and four in the afternoon when all the craft and confectionery shops close. But as soon as the heat subsides, life here resumes vigorously until deep into the night.
Then we found ourselves in the Shah's gardens of Chehel Sotun and Hasht Behesht, where among the paradise thickets and pools, surrounded by high walls, are located two palace pavilions.
Chehel Sotun, or the Palace of Forty Columns, was built during the reign of Shah Abbas II and served as a residence for official receptions, which began in the throne room and continued on the terrace with mirror mosaics. Note that there are only twenty columns, but another twenty are reflected in the pond's waters.
Inside the palace, the wall paintings are well preserved, depicting scenes from court life, indicating that Iranian rulers did not always adhere to strict rules of Islamic morality, preferring pleasures with beauties at feasts...
Hasht Behesht, or Eight Circles of Paradise, was built twenty years after the Chehel Sotun Palace. It served as the residence of the Shah's harem, so the palace's decor is less formal but more refined. Deep within the park are numerous pools and artificial ponds, cages with exotic birds, and fountains. Every corner of this place creates the illusion of paradise on Earth.
- Before we continue our acquaintance with Isfahan, allow me a small digression, - Aida suddenly declared. - I think it is unnecessary to explain who Omar Khayyam is. Yes, he is the famous Persian poet known worldwide. So, Ghiyath al-Din Abu al-Fath Omar Khayyam Nishapuri, although born in Nishapur in 1048, has a very direct connection to Isfahan.
In 1074, Khayyam was invited to the court of Malik Shah and appointed as the chief court astronomer. He was tasked with building an observatory in Isfahan and overseeing its operations. Khayyam was patronized by the chief vizier of Malik Shah, a progressive Turkic scholar, author of "The Book of State Management." Omar Khayyam directed the observatory for 17 years, conducted scientific research, and wrote more than fifty books, most of which, unfortunately, have not survived to this day. According to contemporaries, Khayyam's first scientific work is "Difficult Questions of Arithmetic," which outlines methods for extracting roots of whole powers from numbers.
However, Omar Khayyam is more widely known as a poet. His work is one of the most remarkable phenomena in the history of culture, not only of Iran but of all humanity. Partly, the atmosphere of Isfahan, the beauty of its palaces and parks contributed to the development of the poet's creative talent.
Recognizing the existence of God as the first cause of all that exists, Khayyam asserted, however, that the specific order of phenomena is not the result of divine wisdom but is determined in each particular case by the laws of nature. These anti-Islamic sentiments of the scholar found expression in his verses:
I did not come to the mosque for righteous words,
Not striving to embrace the foundations, I came.
Last time I stole a prayer rug,
It wore out to holes - I came for a new one.
Or this one:
Here is a wayward drunkard, a tipsy wind-treader,
Money, truth, life - he put everything on the line!
Sharia and the Quran are not law for him,
Who in the world, tell me, is bolder than he?
We approached the most famous bridge, Si-o-Se Pol, along the Chahar Bagh Boulevard. Like most of the surrounding historical structures, it was built during the reign of Shah Abbas I. Three ancient bridges have survived to this day in Isfahan, each of which is a true masterpiece. The bridges over the Zayanderud River at first glance do not even resemble bridges. Rather, they look like the walls of a fortress or a huge caravanserai, or even an ancient castle with a fortress wall. The oldest and largest is called Si-o-Se Pol, or the Bridge of Thirty-Three Arches. This is because it consists of thirty-three arches spanning a length of one hundred sixty meters. It was built at the widest point of the river in 1602.
Every evening, townspeople come here to sit in the shade of the arches, to admire the enchanting views of the city and the mountains stretching to the west. Chahar Bagh Boulevard is the main transport and tourist artery of the city. It is a series of parks with paths and a water canal in the middle. Crossing the river via the Bridge of Thirty-Three Arches, it goes through another quarter of gardens, Hazar Jarib. Since the time of the Safavids, the wealthiest and noblest people of Isfahan settled on Chahar Bagh, building exquisite architectural complexes. Today, Chahar Bagh is a street of expensive shops and elite hotels. The medieval leisure area for his subjects was ordered by the ruler of Persia, Shah Abbas the Great, to be constructed on the occasion of his victory in the war with the Portuguese. The Si-o-Se Pol Bridge was built not just as a crossing from one bank to another on the trade route from Shiraz. Its numerous supports, like a dam, were meant to hold back the river so that within the city, even in the hot months, it would remain full of water. A few meters downstream from the Bridge of Thirty-Three Arches opens the two-tiered Khaju Bridge.
But we have neither time nor strength for it now. Aida is also tired, but she does not show it. She is happy and does not hide it. Barely containing her excitement, Aida confesses:
- No matter how beautiful Isfahan is, no matter how its majestic domes shine, I long for Bishkek, its shady streets filled with the freshness of the mountains and the purity of the human souls dear to me. Its multicultural color and the beauty of the nearby mountains nourish me with sweet memories, which give me strength and pride for my native and distant land. Thank you for being with me and filling my soul with the warmth of kinship. Wishing you a safe journey home!
The sun was setting behind the Zagros mountains. Aida stood in the archway of the Bridge of Thirty-Three Arches. In just a few moments, and wrapping itself in the bright red cover of sunset, the sun would disappear behind the dark outline of the mountains. Holding my camera at the ready, I tried to capture the moment of truth when the sun and the contours of Aida's silhouette would merge into a point of the highest artistic harmony.