Historical Monuments as an Architectural Design School: Understanding the Connection of Contemporary Master Masons of Isfahan with the Historical Monuments of the City

Despite the prominent role of traditional master masons of Iran in the creation of historical architecture, they have rarely been in the spotlight of historians. Limited information, therefore, is available today about their guild traditions, thoughts, techniques and skills, and their professional lives. In the contemporary era, with the development of the modern discipline of restoration, a new group of master masons emerged who are at the same time associated with the apprenticeship traditions in their guilds and families, and also work under the supervision of academic restorers and architects. Thus, with an “incomplete return”, these masters found a way back to historical monuments and work in traditional architecture workshops. This article examines the connection of contemporary master masons with historical monuments by the help of the Rezāyat family, one of the master-mason families of Isfahan. How these masters deal with historical monuments, the information they have in mind about monuments, and how they use this knowledge to design new works were investigated thoroughly. To answer these questions, the required information was collected by conducting semi-structured and open-ended interviews, oral history method, as well as observation and taking field notes about their works and design and construction methods they utilized. The collected data were analyzed by coding based on grounded theory. Accordingly, the connection of the master masons of the Rezāyat family with the historical monuments in Isfahan can be explained at five levels: coexistence, reading, memorizing, inspiration, and referencing (general and specific). The analysis of these qualities shows that historical monuments are critical resources in the schema of these masters. The masons of the Rezāyat family reside in a Seljuq-built, subjective-objective territory in Isfahan, centralized in the Joubareh neighborhood. They have observed historical elements since their childhood, and studied, remembered, and utilized them in their new endeavors like lessons learned in a "school of architectural design."