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Chehel
Sotoon
The Palace of Forty Pillars |
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| This great
Savavid Palace was one of nearly 300 built in Isfahan
when it was the capital of Iran. It was largely completed
under Shah Abbas II (1642-1667), although work may have
started on the palace as early as 1598, and is said to
derive its name from the pillars which dominate the
verandah. There are twenty of these laid out in three
rows of six with two additional ones on either side of
the main entrance. When these are reflected in the water
of the pool the number is made up to forty, the Farsi for
which is "chehel". However the number forty is
also used to signify a large number as in the Minaret of
Chehel Dokhtaran. The magnificent talar or verandah, is
the dominant feature of the palace and the slender
columns, over 40m tall, which support it are cut from
single chenar trees (platanus orientalis). The roof is
also made from chenar tree beams and inset with complex
decoration. The surface of much of the throne room is
still covered with mirrored glass and this probably also
was used on the pillars, as it was in the palace of Ali Qapu, so as to give the
appearance of a roof floating in the air.
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| Looking out
over the pool from the Verandah, one is able to
appreciate the importance attached historically by
Persians to the concept of "talar" which
fulfilled their love of sitting in the garden while they
were protected from the light and heat. Behind the verandah
there is a small raised throne room which leads into a
spacious audience chamber. This is richly decorated with
paintings celebrating the heyday of the Safavid dynasty,
including a particularly celbrated one of Shah Tahmasb
receiving the Mughul Emperor Homayun at a banquet. There
are also some paintings of a more secular nature,
depicting ladies lying in gardens and hunting scenes,
although these have been badly defaced. On the outside of
the building there are some particularly interesting
pictures of european figures, presumably based on the
ambassadors and their retinue who would have stayed in
the palace from time to time.
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