Abstract:
Today, the plurality of different ways through which ideas in divine religions are expressed highlights an urgent need for a common language using the approach of ethnic unity. The analysis of these commonalities would be effective in coming to the point at which the spiritual-ethnic aspects of these religions converge. In so doing, art can serve as a common language. As the physical structure of religious buildings is mainly influenced by the type of ritual ceremonies in which they are held, it is more likely that the diversity of religions results in the diversity of the architecture of the holy buildings. However, the similar elements in the architecture of various religions can create a common and single language in the sacred arts to avoid the variety of ideas.
This paper is an attempt to explore the common architectural features of religious buildings in Christianity (Armenians) and Islam during the Safavid era. Darwing upon Titus Burkharts’ theory, we attempt to explain how the structures of Armenian churches and Muslim mosques in the Safavid are different or similar? we scrutinize some samples of worship buildings. An extensive review of literature shows that essential differences in the mentioned religions have resulted in worship places with different interior designs. However, despite such differences, the building structures have been flexible architecture of these religions in shared geographic and historical domain influence each other. Similarly, apart from the influences, Armenians’ architecture in Isfahan is undeniably affected by the architecture of Safavid period and its subsequent periods. That might explain why churches with Iranian-Islamic structure reflect Christians-Armenians’ Architecture. The methods of data collection for this research are documentary and field-based. Data are analyzed in descriptively.
Machine summary:
A Comparative Study of Religious Architecture in Christianity and Islam A Criticism of Titus Burckhardt’s Theory (Case study: Isfahan) Minoo Khakpour* Fatemeh Kateb** Abstract Today, the plurality of different ways through which ideas in divine religions are expressed highlights an urgent need for a common language using the approach of ethnic unity.
In this article, we first present the main definitions of the spaces and subspaces of worship places then we comparatively compare Armenian churches in the Safavid period with Muslim mosques through the lens of Burkhart (to demonstrate the qualitative differences in the architecture of the related religions), respectively.
None of the above mentioned studies has either compared the architecture of worship places in Isfahan through the lens of Burckhardt’s theory in the religions of Christianity (Armenian) and Islam or examined their similarities and differences employing Iranian architecture approach.
Methodology To investigate the effect of Safavid culture on the architecture of churches and mosques and to compare thw cases with each other in terms of physical structure, we will first present Burkhardt’s views on the architecture of the divine religions of Christianity and Islam.
This study was an attempt to compare the following elements between the churches and the mosques : shapes, directions space organizations, the appurtenances of the buildings, the numbers of entries and their directions, the types of materials used for the walls, floors, shape and orientations of the sanctuaries, the type of bell houses and chambers for calling to prayer, the role of water, shapes and types of domes and various decorations.