The Monumental Iwan: A Symbolic Space Or A Functional Device?

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1991

Author

Peker, Ali Uzay

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The architectural unit iwan consists of an empty vaulted space enclosed on three sides and open to a courtyard or central space on the fourth. Even though the history of its application on a monumental scale is characterized by modifications that appear subtle and mainly related to periodic changes in taste, the iwan was subject to continuous variation and interpretation in innumerable small-scaled buildings. This article concerns the monumental iwan, whose persistent application seems to have been governed by a definite cosmoiogicai scheme that dictated its orientation and function in the composition of an edifice. In Persian, iwan means 'portico, open gallery, porch or palace' and the word liwan in Arabic covers the Persian concept (Reuther, 1967,428). In Sassanid architecture, the monumental iwan was used as an 'audience hair for the receptions of the kings. Its function in the Islamic period has always been a source of discussion. It is unknown whether iwan served an official function or even whether these spaces were called iwan. Some written sources define the word iwan as a room or hall opening, on the one side, directly or by means of a portico towards outside. In this period, it would have been any of the halls opening onto a courtyard and could also refer to different architectural forms, such as a wider and higher room or hall or a hypostyle (columned) hall (Grabar, 1978,287-89). Today, regarding the word's contemporary usage, it can be surmised that the iwan in the educational institutions functioned in the manner of the seminar or tea room of our modern universities. Moreover, the iwan probably functioned also as a congregational room in a ribat which served residential as well as educational purposes. Its use as a praying hall as well, is not unusual: a wall niche standing as a mihrap is present more often than not in many madrasa iwans.

Subject Keywords

History of architecture, Iwan, Courtyard with four cross-axial iwans, Cosmology and architecture

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/51109

Journal

ODTÜ Mimarlık Fakültesi Dergisi

Collections

Department of Architecture, Article

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Citation Formats

A. U. Peker, “The Monumental Iwan: A Symbolic Space Or A Functional Device?,” ODTÜ Mimarlık Fakültesi Dergisi, vol. 11, no. 1-2, pp. 5–19, 1991, Accessed: 00, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://hdl.handle.net/11511/51109.