Saturday reflections

A jewelry store in the Armenian quarter in Isfahan, with the proprietor peering through the glass.

Final encounter

I think this is an appropriate place to stop. For now, anyway -- I still have stories to tell and I'll try to write them over the next few weeks.

We met this girl while walking across the bridge this afternoon. She spoke excellent English, as many young Iranians do. And when I could, I answered in Farsi, and she didn't understand anything I said. I was just using the same basic expressions I've been using for weeks -- my name is Kathleen, I'm American, I'm from New York, I understand a little Farsi -- but every time I said anything she frowned and looked confused, and her mother would repeat what I'd just said. Maybe she was just expecting to hear English, and wasn't sure that she was hearing me correctly, but it was very funny.

Back to English-speaking for me.

Khaju Bridge

This bridge is built atop a dam. The steps by the sluices are apparently a popular place to hang out.

More random things

Random things I saw in Isfahan

Woman in the Armenian quarter, domes and mountains, the ceiling inside the Palace of Forty Columns.

Back to reality

It was more than usually jarring to leave the quiet contemplation of the mosque and stagger out into the dust and sunshine of shops and crowds, the bustle of daily life.

One more

This is probably my favorite of all the squinches we've seen.

Two squinches

Let there be light

One of the domes.

Mihrab

This mihrab, fashioned of stucco, though it appears to be carved out of stone, is one of the mosque's treasures.

The calligraphy, rather controversially, is not the usual verses from the Quran but rather a long press release for the shah who commissioned the piece.

A ceiling

Arches

Jameh Mosque

We've been inside at least a dozen mosques now, and there is a common pattern: a central courtyard, often with a place for ablutions before praying, and usually four iwans, the large vaulted rooms with one open wall, one on each side. There are arches, and squinches and domes, and beautiful tilework  and mosaics, and usually, though not always, minarets.

The Jameh mosque in Isfahan has all of those elements, but it's unlike anything else we've seen. For one thing, it's much older -- most of the mosques we've visited are only a few hundred years old, but parts of this mosque date from the 11th century, and every school of Islamic architecture since then is represented.

It's also the largest mosque in Iran. I could spend days there, looking at the brickwork and the evolution of the squinch. The pictures will give you some idea, but there's an atmosphere a photograph can't capture, of a place that's been regarded as holy for a very long time.

The altar

Okay, you would never see this in a mosque. But you might see very similar decoration in a palace.

Armenian church

The Armenian quarter in Isfahan dates from the 16th century, when Shah Abbas persuaded a colony of Christians to relocate from northern Iran because he wanted access to their skills as craftsmen. There are still approximately 5000 Armenian Christians living here.

The church was built in the 1650's, and except for the crosses and the human figures painted inside, could almost be just another mosque. (Though the Shiites don't have the same strong feelings about portraiture that the Sunnis do -- the Qajars produced some beautiful portraits, and we've even seen depictions of Mohammed -- there are never any human or animal forms used in decorating mosques.)

Last day

A musician playing the local version of the bagpipe in the Armenian quarter.

It's fascinating to me -- and oh so frustrating -- how sometimes the best photographs take no work at all, just point and shoot and maybe clean up the exposure a little afterwards. 

As opposed to the picture of the bridge last night, where I had no plans or equipment for taking night shots and ended up improvising by setting a long shutter speed and setting the camera on a garbage can. For so-so results.

Iran has made it easier than usual by offering interesting subjects everywhere I look, and sometimes I get lucky.

Like here. All I had to do was take the picture.

The Bridges of Isfahan County

One of the things Isfahan is famous for is the many bridges crossing the Zayandeh River.

We walked down to the river after dinner to enjoy this view, the Si-o-seh bridge by night.

Okay, but this is a little creepy

I can't help thinking Chuckie Goes to Woodstock.

Where does paisley come from?

One more stop on the artisan tour of Isfahan -- visiting a fabric store where we got to see the process of creating the elaborate paisley designs.

The patterns are stamped onto the fabric, one color at a time, with amazing speed and accuracy.

Abstract scaffolding

One more picture of the Imam mosque, just because I can never resist taking pictures of scaffolding.

And that is some impressive scaffolding, on a scale with the mosque. There were men stretching sheets of fabric over the top, so I assume it's to provide shade for worshippers as the weather gets hotter.