Rahimibid Kushk (Palace) and its historical garden (Charbagh) in Bam; a good memorial monument from the early Islamic era

Document Type : Research Article

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Abstract

A large part of Iran has dry and rough climate. The middle, north middle, south and semi-east parts of the country are occupied by two large deserts; “Kavir” and “Lout”. Taking residence in the margin of these two phenomena has always had great challenge. Their residents have taken actions for construction of gardens and Kushk (Pavilion) for being far from dry weather and the scorching heat. Valuable samples are detected and studied from the historical period before Islam. In the middle and the end of Islamic centuries, a few dynasties, such as Ghaznavid, Seljuk, Timurid, and Safavid kings and even the next periods, had ordered for designs and executions of large gardens, some of which are still remained in Iran. From the early centuries of inclusion of Islam, however, some valuable samples have been remained from Omavid and Abbasid periods in Damascus, Andalusia and Iraq, in the eastern part of Islamic Caliphate and the present Iran. Few evidentce is left despite of credited reports of Narshekhi from the 700 places of Rabaz in Bukhara from Samanid, mentioned by Estakhri and the unknown author of “History of Sistan” in construction of Kushk and gardens by Saffarid kings in Rabaz and outside the gate of cities; such as Zaranj and Bost and confirmation of continuous residence of Ghaznavid kings in Kushk and suburban gardens in the words of Beyhaghi. Therefore, detection of a building which belongs to that period is critical. Outside the Bam city in Kerman in South east of Iran, recently a building is detected that is considered as a valid witness in this regard. The building is located 1600 m. from south east of Bam Citadel, called Rahimabad Kushk. Some scholars have attributed the time of its construction to the 4th AH/9th AD. Another has assumed that this building as one of the works in Seljuk or Ilkhanid era. Although its charbagh has been mentioned in few previous researches, there is no information on its size and the source of its water supply. In this study, it is tried to propose a more precise data for the building and also the size and its water supply upon studies based on environmental evidence. The construction model of this brick building is extroverted Noh¬-Gonbad (nine domes), which became the standard for the construction of charbagh Kushk from Sassanid era. However, the primary steps for modeling “9-part” buildings were experienced by Achaemenid architects in the form of Apadana and after that in Islamic periods the planners and artists celebrated their ability and art in building this model. At the end of the century, such buildings became popular by the name of “Hasht Behesht” which has displayed the maximum harmony with the plan of charbagh. The Rahimabad building is also the central Kushk of a large charbagh. The peripheral evident indicates that its area has been about 80 hectares. The water supply of this project is the aquifer behind the “Bam-Baravat” fault which is designed via two aqueducts before reaching the garden in a pond with the current name “Hezar Ordak”. Provision of an appropriate area of the potential land, closeness of this place to Bam Citadel, relative closeness to rich resource of underground water and the possibility of easy exploitation and transmission of that, and the safety of this point when encountering seasonal floods are the most important reasons for selecting this place for planning the project and undoubtedly the possibility to take advantage of such condition has been in the hand of the most powerful political character of the region. Architectural specifications and reports of ancient texts and historical geography confirm the construction of this building at the 3rd AH (9th AD). By taking into account the indubitable domination of Saffarid kings (3rd & 4th AH/9th & 10th AD) on the Southeast of Iran and the efforts of Amroleith for development of Kerman in that time and selection of Bam city by its agent, Mansour-Ibn-e Khovardin (267-287AH/881-900AD) for the governance of Kerman, this writing proposes the construction time of Rahimabad palace to Saffarid era and Mansour-Ibn-e Khovardin as its employer.

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