Gardens

The word garden, in Middle Manichaean Persian, was “b’w” and in Pahlavi, “bāg” that meant a piece of land, which was synonymous with the Avestan word “bāgā” and in Sanskrit “bhāga”, meaning a part or share of a property. In modern Persian, the term garden is referred to an enclosed and man-made area that is built on the basis of geometric rules containing trees, flowers, plants, water ponds or fountains, etc.

The history of the earliest gardens goes back to the early third millennium BC in Egypt, Sumer, Babylon, and Assyria that were built as royal gardens (such as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon) and as gardens of temples in Mesopotamia.

The Greeks, too, used trees and gardens to beautify their temples and areas around their stadiums, and the Romans, too, built different types of gardens either independently or as part of their buildings.

The history of making gardens in Iran goes back to the earliest garden made in Pasargad, the capital of the Achaemenian kings, Cyrus the Great. Having no significant fortifications, the buildings of this city were constructed within the vicinity of a royal garden, popularly known as “Pardis”, which was surrounded by a number of water streams. Pasargad, the oldest known garden of Iran, was designed and made as a royal garden and adjacent to Cyrus’s main. The garden had a rectangular space the longitudinal axis of which was connected to the main palace. This garden had four plots and certain waterways divided the garden. This was the geometric feature of one of the most fundamental elements of Iranian gardens, namely Chaharbagh (lit. four gardens), which was built as a symbol by Cyrus in Pasargad.

In terms of their design, Iranian gardens can be divided into three groups: 1- Flat and sloping gardens (like the Fin Garden); 2- Sloping and landscaped gardens the architecture of which is focused on their pathways and fountains made in the middle of them and the main building is located on the upper floor. The oldest example of such gardens is the “Takht-e Shiraz Garden” and the best example is the “Bagh-e Hezar Jarib (lit. a thousand-acre garden) in Isfahan, which was built in the Safavid era; 3- Gardens that are built in natural bedrock or among water reservoirs. These gardens are very similar to the ancient gardens and attempts have been made to preserve the natural state of the environment (Abbasabad Garden in Behshahr of the Safavid era).

The Iranian gardens are generally designed in a rectangular shape and in a longitudinal direction. The gardens were surrounded by walls and at times were fortified (like the Fin Garden of Kashan). And their entrance would be indicative of the financial status of its owners. These entrances were usually made on the main axis of the garden. The layout of the pathways was shaped in accordance with the size and shape of the garden as well as the number of its buildings.

One of the most significant elements of the Iranian garden is the networking of their streams into four symmetrical parts (Chahar bagh), the construction of pavilions, mansions, and porches, which faced the best natural landscapes. Sometimes the pavilions were divided into two parts: the wider part, which is open to the public, and the smaller part that was private (an example of it is the Eram Garden of Shiraz). The most important element of the Iranian gardens was water and trees came second in importance.

In Iranian gardens, fruit trees are, usually, planted in large plots and the time of their flowering and the variety of the colors of their flowers are taken into account at the time of planting them. Fruit trees were also planted either on the edges of other plots and on the edge of the pathways or even inside them.

Some examples of Iranian gardens include Narenjestan or citrus orchards, small gardens, and small home gardens that were and are designed in various scales and in accordance with the spirit of Iranian architecture.