Open air courtyards are among the most notable and essential features of Persian Islamic architecture. Unfortunately in recent years there has been a pattern of covering open air courtyards at shrines in Iran and Iraq. The problem here is that unlike building new intentionally built covered spaces, roofing courtyards disturbs the balance of indoor to outdoor spaces, often reducing visibility of certain architectural features that are meant to be visible and observed in the complex’s open air spaces, such as domes, minarets, calligraphic inscriptions, and other ornamental work. The loss of the open air courtyard also has certain negative health/ sanitation consequences, as exposure to sun and open air naturally disinfects surfaces and cycles out harmful illnesses and other unhygienic things. During the height of the Covid pandemic only courtyard spaces were able to be kept open at many shrines, as the spread of the virus was less likely to occur in open air spaces than interior spaces.

The horrifying example photographed here is the west most iwan and arcades of the Jomhuri Islami courtyard at Imam Reza’s Shrine in Mashhad. I photographed this courtyard and several of its iwans in my 2017 visit to the shrine. It fascinated me as one of very few modern architectural additions built in the classical style that looked pleasant and respected the scale and proportion of the existing historic shrine and the ratio of indoor to outdoor spaces. These additions were constructed in the early 90’s of the previous century. In my 2023 visit to the same courtyard I was surprised to see a tall metal fence cutting through half the courtyard. I learned that half the courtyard was to be roofed and this involved the dismantling of the iwans and arcades on the west side of the courtyard. When I peeked through the fence, I observed that the iwan and arcade built just some short 30 years ago had been fully stripped of its ornamentation and floors of their marble pavement. The sight was truly disappointing, not only for the loss of a beautiful courtyard space, but the immense waste of destroying a pleasantly designed edifice built only 30 years prior.