Journal of Researches in Islamic Architecture

The Shrine of Abdolazim located in Ancient historical city of Ray is a complex including holy shrines of Immamzadeh Taher, Immamzadeh Hamzeh and Abdolazim Hassni. Immamzadeh Taher’s shrine is placed at the north side of the complex and at the east side of Abdolazim Hassni’s shrine and the museum of the complex also is at the south east of Mosalla (praying room for muslims) which is ornamented with decorative arrays. The complex is one of the most valuable treasures of architectural works and related arts. Its construction dates back to the second half of third Hijri century and it has been developed and evolved up to the present century. The complex has been greatly decorated with some artistic works. Some of the most significant of which are inscriptions by "Mohammd Ebrahim Tehrani known for Mirza Amo" who has been one of the outstanding and well-experienced inscription creators of Qajar era in Iran. The inscriptions were executed by applying Nastaliq script, and are considered important documents in the study of the development of Nastaliq scripts. They were written and made in two calligraphic and architectural methods, respectively, on papersand on seven-color tiles.
Nastaliq as a favorite script has appeared in architectural designs attributed to Qajar era along with Thulth script. Thus recognition and awareness of prevalent Nastaliq inscriptions and their transformations are considered crucial needs for calligraphy and architecture communities, but the subject has been neglected by most researchers. Evaluation of calligraphic transformation through paper inscriptions which are directly written by calligraphers is an excellent and professional case study. Furthermore, since the quality of scripts undergo some changes or defects when transferring to tiles, stones or other things, analysis and comparison of paper inscriptions and seven-color tile inscriptions should be paid close attention to. Actually, it is a new look at epigraphy on seven-color tiles in which not only the calligrapher but the tileralso is involved.
It can not be denied that production of calligraphic works specially Nastaliq script, is influenced by understanding transformations of scripts and manuscripts in form and structure over time; hence epigraphy and its transformation especially in holy places and the conformity of Nastaliq script with characteristics and requirements of epigraphy as well, have been overlooked by researchers. The purpose of this survey is to distinguish the differences between two methods of epigraphy, on papers and on tiles, and to realize transformations of Nastaliq letters and words when they were transferred from
paper sheets to tiles. Library-based and field study resources as well as observational descriptive and analytical methods have been implemented to conduct the study. Some questions should necessarily be answered to obtain the aim of this study. Firstly, what are the differences between Mohammd Ebrahim Tehrani’s paper inscriptions kept in the museum of Abdolazim Hassani’s holy shrine and his seven-color tile inscriptions located in the veranda of Imamzadeh Taher’s holly shrine in terms of writing form of Nastaliq and its composition (tarkib)? Secondly, which attributes should be taken into consideration to classify these inscriptions? The result of evaluation in both types of epigraphy indicated some stylistic features and visual standards for the works available from second period of the Qajar era, namely, writing big sizes of words and letters plus relative structural coherence in Nastaliq writings. It was revealed that slight variations exist between the two types of epigraphy. In the tile inscriptions, for instance, letters and words were written smaller in size and they were also executed bolder in comparison to the paper inscriptions. Thestretched letters (kashidas)are noticed to be elongated shorter in this type of epigraphy, though. Individual letters Additionally, the angel between calligraphy ."ه" are not attached tothe letter of ha "و،ر" such as ra and vav pen and the paper while writing dots (noghte) varies between 36 and 50 degrees. Furthermore, fewer ‘seating’ lines (korsi) and the same type of gemination, the doubling of a consonantal sound, were conceived in composition (tarkib) of the tile inscriptions. It was observed that words and letters underwent minor changes when they were transferred from the papers to the tiles, due to direct supervision of the calligrapher and his expertise in writing on variety of surfaces in addition to theskillful tiler who neatly created the tile inscriptions. Tehrani also has signed his paper inscriptions (1291 Hijri), available in Abdolazim Hassani’s Shrine, as "Mohammd Ebrahim Tehrani" which is the calligrapher's full name. He has utilized black ink on the pale gold background papers to make the inscriptions. Another notable feature is that two types of curved and angular frames are perceived in his paper inscriptions. His tile inscriptions (1301 Hijri), however, have been signed as "Mohammd Ebrahim, Mashhor Be Mirza Amo" which includes calligrapher’s first and nick names. White ink, navy blue backgrounds and curved shape frames were noted as the characteristics of the tile inscriptions by Tehrani.

Visual pollution is one of the problems of urban appearance that great negative influence on the quality of life of citizens. Some elements such as billboards and advertisements on building facades, canals and shafts for air conditioning, electricity and telephone cables, and gas pipes, façade deterioration, heterogeneity of new constructions, disruption of the historical skyline, extensions to balconies and roofs for the increasing usable area of buildings, disruption of the originality of materials due to facade pollution repairs, and furniture disorder including the scattering of lighting elements and lighting are the causes of disorder in urban facades and visual pollution. The purpose of urban rehabilitation projects is to enhance the urbanscapes and reduce visual pollution in urban facades, especially in historical contexts. Also of urban rehabilitation projects create the opportunity for the appearance of the historic city to be a more visible reflection of the historical period that has passed by reducing the disturbances and pollution of the street wall. Although rehabilitation projects have been implemented in some Iranian cities in the last decade, including Tehran, a comprehensive understanding of the issue and the purposes that such projects should pursue has not yet been achieved. Enghelab Street is one of the most important east-west streets of Tehran, which was built during the Pahlavi period. This street is located in the middle of Tehran and since the middle urban fabric of the city is the narrator of a part of the city’s history that, if lost, would jeopardize the sequence of the city’s story in the future, it is very important to conserve this fabric. Enghelab Street has always played an important role in the political, cultural, and social history of Tehran. The section in front of the University of Tehran, with the gathering of bookstores, has its audience, which has led to the formation of galleries, art stores, book cafes, and socio-cultural exchange spaces. Although all these factors have led to the social and economic prosperity of this part of Enghelab Street, it has also increased visual pollution. Enghelab street rehabilitation & elimination of visual pollution project was presented by the Tehran Beautification Organization in 2015-2016 to preserve historical and cultural values. They wanted to restore authenticity to this street by elimination of visual pollution, improving the facades of buildings, and organizing the billboards and advertisements on building facades. The purpose of this study is to develop the theoretical framework of urban rehabilitation projects based on the historical, identity, physical, perceptual, social, and economic aspects and components of each, and evaluate “Enghelab street rehabilitation & elimination of visual pollution project” in the city of Tehran. It should be noted that the six aspects presented in this article are not completely separate from each other, but have an inseparable interaction. The separation of them in this article is only for the purpose of making it possible to review and evaluate “Enghelab street rehabilitation & elimination of visual pollution project”. This study relies on the qualitative approach. This research has two main steps in which a research method was used in each step: The first step is to use content analysis and expert meeting to extract the aspects of urban rehabilitation and develop the theoretical framework of the research by logical reasoning. The second step is analyzing opinions and impressions of the two groups of business owners and pedestrians and codification of interviews by Strauss and Corbin’s qualitative analysis method. Through the results of the field study and interviews, the research shows that this project is more successful in “perceptual” and then “physical” aspects than other aspects based on the residents’ perspective. “Increasing legibility”, “establishing visual order”, and “reducing visual and light pollution” are the most important of its effects, respectively. But in the “social” aspect, especially the interaction with the business owners is less successful. The results of this study show that it is necessary to consider the six aspects of historical, identity, physical, perceptual, social, and economic aspects in urban rehabilitation project. This study also reveals that sometimes a low level of public awareness of the historical and identity aspects of the city can lead to a conflict between citizens’ views and the purposes of urban planning in the field of conservation and promotion of historical and identity values. Therefore, in both “historical” and “identity” aspects, cannot rely solely on the residents’ perspective, and the use of the opinion of experts is necessary for these projects. The general agreement of the interviewees to remove all the old billboards of shops of Enghelab street without considering their historical values shows that rehabilitation projects without the use of the opinion of experts can become a threat to values, especially the physical signs of political and social memories, and rust. It should also be noted that future research is proposed to accurately assess the economic impact of this project.