Reconnection between sky and earth in Iranian Architecture

The sky as one of the major basis of nature has always attracted the exploring look of human to itself. Following this look, various extractions and interpretations have formed in the mind of human being and different mythologies and narrations are expressed regarding this element, its way of creation and its relation with earth .What is common in all of these interpretations and definitions is the holiness and divinity of sky which has made human being seek to approach that in different ways and to promote its position from an earth creature to a heavenly phenomenon. The narrations available in the Iranian culture before and after Islam are indicative of cohesion of earth and sky and the relation between the earthlings with the ones from sky. Mountain and tree… were tools helping the connection of this cohesion. Among these, architecture has also been and still is one of the most important tools that is applied for approaching the sky in different periods and in various climates. In this paper, by comparing two different periods (before and after Islam), it is concluded that during history, the Iranian architect has learnt from nature by having a deep look at that and its reflection in practice gradually has changed from superficial modeling like construction of buildings on natural heights such as mountain and hill or artificial platforms, to completely imitative extractions from tree such as construction of ziggurat and then conceptual, significant and abstract imagination of concepts available in the nature (geometry, color…) in architecture and ornaments, however the human has always taken efforts to save, reinforce and promote holy connection to the sky.

Keywords:

Sky , earth , architecture , Iran