Nutty Prof: ESFAHAN Continued

In the morning we strolled through the streets of Esfahan, and came to the Palace of Hasht Behesht. (Don’t try that when being tested for inebriation!)

It was set in marvellous gardens, green and lush after the desert we had been travelling through. We soon discovered the secret - copious quantites of a very noisome nightsoil fertilized the plants! The roof was wonderfully decorated:

Strolling on a little further, we came to the Chehel Soutan palace, dating from 1647. It too sat in a great garden, but somewhat more approachable in this case!

It also had a wonderfully decorated roof:

While inside there were vast murals celebrating famous victories. This was the Karnal war between Nader Shah and the Indian King Mohammad Goorkani, near Delhi in 1740 AD:

We strolled on through the city, which was a very pleasant place, with tree-lined avenues and fountains at many intersections. Eventually we came out into Iman Square. This is a view to the north-east, with the rows of shops and the Sheik Lotfollah mosque on the far side:

On the right was the entrance to the great Iman mosque:

The entrance was parallel to the south-east side of the square, but just inside the entrance was a great bowl, at which point the whole alignment changed so that the main mosque ran true along the line facing Mecca:

Within the mosque, the arches were a delight to the eye, and the tiling was a riot of colour:

One was drawn to look higher and yet higher, and finally, craning almost backwards, the final explosion of colour almost drove one off balance:

The outside was, if anything, even more beautiful:

We strolled across the square to the Sheik Lotfollah mosque, which was on an altogether different scale from the Imam Mosque. The grand portal led into a narrow, twisting passage and so into the mosque itself. The Lotfollah was built around 1620, for the especial use of the Shah’s harem. It showed a far more restrained decoration than the Iman mosque. Was this a reflection of the feminine influence?

Outside in the square, the sun was lowering, and a couple gossiped while the fountains played:At the Si-o-Se (33 arches) bridge over the Zayandeh river, the people of Esfahan strolled, played on boats, and cooled down: