Sasanian architecture

Sasanian architecture refers to the Persian architectural style that reached a peak in its development during the Sasanian era (224–651 CE). This period was a time when Iranian civilization achieved some of its greatest accomplishments, marking the last major Persian Empire before the Muslim conquest. Many of the architectural ideas from this time were later used by Muslims and became part of Islamic architecture.

The Sasanian dynasty, like an earlier group called the Achaemenid dynasty, began in the province of Persis, also known as Fars. They thought of themselves as continuing the great traditions of the Achaemenids, after periods ruled by the Seleucid and Parthian groups, and aimed to bring back the glory of Persia.

Origins

The Sasanians brought back the beauty of ancient Persian designs, making their own strong mark. Even though Alexander the Great brought Greek styles to the area, the people there added their own touch. During the time of the Sasanians, Persian traditions were revived, and these ideas later influenced buildings far beyond Persia, reaching places near the Mediterranean sea.

Palaces

The Sasanian kings lived in amazing palaces, such as those in Firouzabad and Bishapur in Fars, and in their capital city, Ctesiphon, in modern Iraq. These buildings show a mix of local styles and Parthian dynastic architecture. They often featured huge barrel-vaulted iwans, especially at Ctesiphon, where one big hall has an arch that spans more than 80 feet and rises 118 feet high.

Many of these palaces had special rooms for meetings, sometimes with a dome on top. The Persians invented a clever way to put a round dome on a square room using something called a squinch. The palace at Firouzabad is the oldest known example of this design.

Descriptions

The Sasanian buildings from between 350 and 450 CE show a clear and confident style. These buildings have simple and uniform features, with later ones being larger versions of earlier ones. The main shape of these buildings is a parallelogram without extra parts sticking out. The main entrance leads into a tall, vaulted hallway through a large arch. Besides these long halls, the buildings also have square rooms with domes that are circular at the base and elliptical in shape, resting on special supports called pendentives. The rooms connect directly to each other without long hallways in between. The palace usually has a courtyard at the back with rooms opening into it.

The height of the arches in Sasanian buildings ranges from about fifty to eighty-five feet. The domed rooms are squares measuring from 25 to just over 40 feet. The domes are circular at the base but have an elliptical shape when viewed from the side. They rest on pendentives instead of drums. The rooms often have small holes in the domes to let in light, and windows are placed between the pendentives.

Sasanian palaces do not have corridors. Rooms usually lead directly into one another. When rooms do not connect directly, they share a common space that is either an open courtyard or a large vaulted room. The doors between rooms are usually of moderate size, but sometimes they are very large arches. Some palaces have as many as seventeen or eighteen rooms.

The outside of Sasanian buildings often has tall, narrow, doubly recessed arches. Inside, there might have been decorations made of stucco, painting, or gilding, but these have mostly disappeared, leaving the interiors looking plain except for windows, decorative doorways, and niches. In some larger rooms, short pillars were used to support parts of the roof, breaking the plain look of the ceiling. These pillars were connected to the walls by low arches.

A special feature of Sasanian architecture was its unique use of space. Architects designed buildings by thinking about masses and surfaces, leading to the use of thick brick walls decorated with molded or carved stucco. Examples of these decorations can be seen at places like Bishapur, Chal Tarkhan near Ray, Ctesiphon, and Kish. The decorations often include animal figures, human busts, and designs of flowers and geometry.

Sasanian influence

Sasanian art brought back styles and traditions from Persia, and later these ideas spread to places around the Mediterranean during the Islamic period. The designs and buildings from the Sasanian era influenced many other styles, especially Byzantine architecture and Islamic architecture. Many Islamic buildings borrowed ideas from Persian designs.

For example, the city of Baghdad was planned using ideas from Persian cities like Firouzabad. The Great Mosque of Samarra also shows Persian influence, with its spiral shape inspired by towers in Firouzabad, an old Sasanian capital. In Afghanistan, at Bamian, we can see how Iranian art and architecture from the Sasanian time shaped buildings there between the 4th and 8th centuries.

Foreign influences

Byzantine architecture also influenced some Sasanian buildings. At Bishapur, for example, some floors had decorations showing joyful scenes, likely inspired by Roman styles. These decorations might have been made by Roman workers. Beautiful wall paintings have also been found on Mount Khajeh in Sistan.