Reflections on the Meaning of and Understanding Persian Islamic Architecture

Understanding Persian Islamic Architecture entails understanding a definition of Persia and a belief of Islam. This paper is an effort to assess the ways and means of understanding this particular architecture. First, the importance of this study in contemporary times is explained. Then the meaning of three notions is clarified: ‘architecture and history of architecture’, ‘Islam and Islamic Architecture’, and ‘Persia and Persian Architecture’. Then a method for understanding architecture and an approach to the actual architectural phenomenon is proposed. It is thus concluded that although to understand Persian Islamic Architecture necessitates an understanding of both Persia and Iran, but an understanding of architecture as art, should precede these studies.