kashan the ameri house

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Kashan is a city in the province of Isfahan(estimated population 300,000). In modern Persian, the word for a tile (kashi) comes from the name of the town.The city of Kashan boasts at least nineteen historic mansions that are well preserved. The design and major components of historic mansions follow the general pattern of traditional architecture but with larger spaces and more detailed architectural craftsmanship and luxurious elements.

Oraşul Kashan (populaţie estimată 300.000 de locuitori) se află în provincia Esfahan. În limba farsi cuvântul “Kashi“ înseamnă placă de ceramică.

A female knocker had a different sound than a male hand knocker.

Khan-e Ameriha (Ameriha Historical House)

Khan-e Ameriha (Ameriha Historical House)

Khan-e Ameriha Entrance

Khan-e Ameriha (Ameriha Historical House)

Khan-e Ameriha (Ameriha Historical House)

The Āmeri House is a historic house in Kashan, in Isfahan Province. It was built during the Zand era for Agha 'Āmeri, the governor of Kashan, who was responsible for maintaining the security of the route between Tehran and Kerman.

Khan-e Ameriha was built at the end of the 18th century when Agha Ameri decided his father’s house wasn’t nearly big enough for one of the country’s wealthiest men and needed a little extension.

Ameri was Kashan’s governor and made his money supplying the shah with war material and providing security along the trade route between Tehran and Kerman.

By the time work finished, his was the largest home in Persia, encompassing a staggering seven courtyards over 9000 sq metres.

Covering an area of 9000 square metres, and housing seven courtyards, the Āmeri house is one of several large spectacular old houses in the central district of Kashan.

Like the other houses around it, it was rebuilt in the 19th century, after the city was ravaged by a series of massive earthquakes in the 18th century.

Iranian Traditional Houses possess an innate system of protection; they all have enclosed gardens with maximum privacy, preventing any view into the house from the outside world. Casele tradiţionale iraniene dispun de grădini închise cu ziduri groase care asigură un grad maxim de intimitate, şi previn orice privire indiscretă din afară.

An iwan (also spelled ivan) is a rectangular hall or space, usually vaulted, walled on three sides, with one end entirely open.

Iwans are most commonly associated with Islamic architecture; however, the form was invented much earlier and fully developed in Mesopotamia, around the third century CE during the Parthian period.

Iwan ceiling

Inner courtyard with pool

Inner courtyard with pool

The pomegranate (punica granatum) is an original native of Persia

After 15 years of revival and restoration Āmeri Mansion in Kashan, has been converted into a hotel, restaurant and cafeteria for tourists from Iran and all over the world.

The main iwan of the Amerian House

Like many other cities throughout Iran, stucco was the most widespread method of ornamentation in Persian houses.

Thanks to stucco, a wall of crudely fashioned stone blocks or raw brick, gives an impression of great luxury

Khan-e Ameriha (Ameriha Historical House)

Iranian architecture makes use of abundant symbolic geometry, using pure forms such as circles and squares, and plans are based on often symmetrical layouts featuring rectangular courtyards and halls

Certain design elements of Persian architecture have persisted throughout the history of Iran

Inner courtyard with pool

The magnificent architecture of the Āmeries structures such as fascinating decorations, porches, ponds, courts and gardens make them spectacular edifice. There are more than 80 rooms in it.

Art of mirrors is surely one of the most delicate architectural decorations in Iranian civilization. It is an art defined as forming regulated shapes in various designs and images with small and big pieces of mirror, for decorating interior surfaces of a construction

According to Persian historian and archaeologist Arthur Pope, the supreme Iranian art, in the proper meaning of the word, has always been its architecture.

The technique of stained glass production in Iran is different from European. Instead of lead, strips of wood are used. A strip of wood has channels where glass is inserted. Channels are normally used in traditional woodwork to connect up two pieces of wood together without using nails. The glass is placed inside channels and wooden strips are glued together.

The width of a channel is equal to the glass thickness. In the past a 3mm-thick glass was used, but now it is mostly of 5 mm thickness. A panel of wooden stained glass is solid and durable; it can stand a stroke of a man or a strong wind.

The design of wooden stained glass based on geometry of a square or a triangle is widespread.Colours are very bright greens, reds, blues and yellows. Sometimes colourless glass is used.

Earthquakes in Iran leave massive destruction. Most of Iran’s remaining traditional houses date from the post-quake eras during the Qajar period.

Iranian decoration makes great use of geometric shapes

Without sudden innovations, and despite the repeated trauma of invasions and cultural shocks, Iranian architecture has achieved "an individuality distinct from that of other Muslim countries"

Traditionally, the guiding formative motif of Iranian architecture has been its cosmic symbolism "by which man is brought into communication and participation with the powers of heaven"

Iranian architecture makes use of abundant symbolic geometry

So far more than €2 million has been spent, and one by one the courtyards and surrounding buildings are returning to their extravagant best.

Khan-e Ameriha (Ameriha Historical House), now hotel

Highlights include the two hammams (bathhouses), one of which was built specifically for local pregnant women, and the naghib (mask room), which leads to a secret escape tunnel.

Bathhouse

Ceiling basement

The pomegranate is considered to have originated in the region between the Himalayas and Egypt, and has been cultivated since ancient times in India, Persia, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, and the Arabian Peninsula

Text: Internet

Pictures: Ali Majdfar & InternetCopyright: All the images belong to their authors

Presentation: Sanda Foişoreanuwww.slideshare.net/michaelasanda

Sound: Niyaz - Ghazal