History of Mentalities in Iranian Architecture: an Introduction

The architectural works that remained from the long history of Iran are indeed treasures of Iranian architecture. However, these works are not perfect manifestations of the architecture which had been realized in Iran during centuries. Most of what we have inherited from this architecture are monuments. Such majestic works can hardly lead us to the major part of the architecture, which is popular architecture. Furthermore, architectural works are the final products of a process, which is itself a subject of architecture historical study. Architectural ideas and images, individual and collective taste of architecture, design and construction processes, architectural education, the profession and guilds, patrons and patronage, architects and other agents and practitioners of architecture, all can be relevant subjects of architectural history. Studying the architecture of Iranian people requires studying not only the product of architecture, but also all the process and its factors, including the people thinks, ideas and mentalities about buildings and other aspects of built environment. One of the tasks of the historian of Iranian architecture is seeking for ways to reach those aspects of this architecture which are concealed from us by the hands of history, ways which can lead us to the popular architecture, or the relations between monumental and popular architecture. In our time there are some approaches in history whose aim is put away the prevalent approach in history, discovering the popular life and culture. One of these approaches is “cultural history”, which has a branch as “history of mentalities”. Architectural historians can take such approaches in the study of architecture history. The goal of this article is introducing the history of mentalities as an approach to Iranian architectural study. First, we will briefly introduce the history of mentalities, its nature and development. Then we will consider its potentialities for Iranian architectural history and introduce its potential sources. At last we will give some examples and propose some topics in the field of “the history of mentalities in Iranian architecture”.