I was recently shocked to see photographs sent to me by an acquaintance of the complete destruction of a historic shrine in Isfahan and the construction of a modern shrine in its place. Generally it is unusual to see a case of blatant destruction of a historic building in Iran, although disregard for architectural heritage is not unusual, it typically happens in more subtle ways. The Zainabiye Shrine in Isfahan though, is one of these unusual cases. The shrine is said to house the grave of a daughter of Imam Musa al Kazim. I could not find any exact or reliable information about the history of the building, and of the photos of the building from before its destruction I did not see any evidence of any inscription with information about the shrines history. Hence I have estimated it’s era and age based on my own observations.
The former building was a beautiful structure, of traditional proportions and solid construction. The minarets resemble Safavid minarets with their blue spiraling epigraphy, this along with its bulbous double shell dome, and it’s location in Isfahan led to me to initially assume the structure was from the Safavid period. However further observation led me to change my opinion. None of the tilework at the shrine seemed particularly old, possibly 60 to 70 years old at most, and consists of a mixture of beautiful mosaics, haft-rang tiles with nastaliq inscriptions, and bana bricks. Interestingly, the dome was not tiled, and seems to have been had a layer of concrete applied over it and simple rudimentary designs were painted onto it. The treatment of the dome suggests the shrine did not receive significant patronage in the modern era. The inside of the shrine was decorated with a combination of plaster with colorful painted designs and inscriptions along with minimal mirror work. What made it clear for me this was not a Safavid shrine, and was likely Qajar, is the heavy used of round arches for doorways of the shrine. It should be noted that in Persian Islamic architecture from Safavid period and previous eras, exclusively used pointed arches.
According to local sources, the shrine began to be demolished around 2014/15 and took at least 5 years to demolish. It’s said that the cheap labor of local railroad diggers was used to take down the historic structure. Workers began with demolishing the historic qibla gate of the shrine, then it’s two minarets, and two years later took down the dome. The beautiful tiles of the shrine were discarded by the roadside as if they were rubbish.
Immediately after completion of the demolition construction of the new shrine complex began. The entire historic courtyard of the shrine which housed many graves was excavated for the new buildings foundation and courtyard basement. The new shrine is being built by an Iranian contracting company called “Entekhab” (شرکت بین المللی توسعه و سرمایه گذاری ساختمان انتخاب ), which upon researching their previous projects, seems to have no qualification in the field of traditional Persian Islamic architecture. The design of the new structure is puzzling and includes use of architectural elements with no historic basis in traditional Persian architecture, for example the new design incorporates four minarets with each having two separate balcony levels. Traditional Persian architecture generally allows for two minarets for a dome, and minarets each only have one balcony. Multiple balcony levels are a feature of Ottoman Turkish architecture. In terms of construction, the new shrine is of absolute no value. It is built like any modern concrete post and beam structure, with the dome, minarets, and all vaults being completely fake and merely prefabricated steel structures to provide the general shape of those respective elements. This is opposed to the previous historic tomb structure which had dome, minarets, and vaults made from the traditional solid masonry craft techniques.
The Destruction of such a beautiful and historic shrine in Isfahan of all cities really puzzled me, especially as to how this was allowed to happen and how I could find no traces of opposition to this crime against the cities heritage. It is said by locals that a rich local merchant was being taxed by the government and to dodge being taxed set up a fund for the expansion of the shrine. This resulted in him owning the majority of land around the shrine and hence be managed by someone completely ignorant of the historical and architectural value of the shrine. As a show the merchant sets aside large sums of money to the government for the project, but in reality very little is spent and cheap labor and construction techniques have been used on the new building. The possibility of economic corruption and blatant disregard and destruction towards the nations heritage makes this case a particularly nasty and dirty case. As for the shocking absence of any outrage or controversy regarding the destruction of this historic shrine, this is likely related to the demographics around the shrine. The Zaynabiye area of Isfahan is known to be one of the cities poor neighborhoods and most of the residents are either immigrants from other parts of Iran or neighboring countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan, and also seminary students. As is usual with such demographics, there is little care among residents towards the value of the heritage and integrity of the city’s historic identity.
Additional Photos of the Shrine
