1. Hanachi, P., Eshrati, P., Eshrati, D. (2011) "Understanding the Persian Garden as
a cultural landscape: an approach to comprehensive conservation", in:
proceedings of Heritage international conference: Conservation of Architecture,
Urban Areas, Nature & Landscape: Towards a Sustainable Survival of Cultural
Landscape, Volume II, 13-15 March 2011, Jordan: Amman, Pages 385-396.
Understanding the Persian Garden as a
Cultural Landscape: an Approach to
Comprehensive Conservation
Pirooz Hanachi1
, Parastoo Eshrati1
, Dorna Eshrati2
1
School of Architecture, College of Fine Arts, University of Tehran, Iran
2
School of Architecture and Urban Studies, Iran University of Science
and Technology, Iran
hanachee@ut.ac.ir, par.eshrati@gmail.com, dorna.eshrati@gmail.com
Abstract
The word "Paradise" entered English from an ancient Iranian root, pairi.daêza.
The literal meaning of this word is “a walled area” for describing the Persian
Garden. Historical gardens characteristics have changed recently which has
undesirably affected their historical value especially intangible aspects largely
neglected. In this paper, two major causes of challenges of Paradises
conservation are carried out. In the first place, many Persian Gardens are only
recognized as cultural heritage because they usually have a building or an
architectural masterpiece. Due to the focus of current conservation policy on
architectural aspects, some of the most important natural and cultural values and
tangible and intangible aspects are neglected. In the second place, historical
gardens have changed physically and functionally based on gardens owners’
strategies and interests, besides conservation of historic values is not the main
interest of some owners.

2. In this study, it is suggested that a partial solution may be to begin with
developing a comprehensive management policy considered the Persian Garden
as cultural landscape, which is applicable to different owners. Since increasing
awareness and understanding of both tangible and intangible aspects of cultural
landscape is critical to develop a comprehensive conservation policy, some of
the most important tangible and intangible aspects of the Persian Garden are
carried out in this paper.
Keywords: the Persian Garden, Cultural Landscape, Conservation, Challenges,
Tangible and Intangible Aspects
1 Introduction
The definition of heritage has changed and expanded over time. It has evolved
from being seen only as single properties and buildings and their immediate
surroundings to groups of buildings or districts. Evolving over the past decades,
the conservation of landscapes of historic and cultural values has also affected
the identification of landscapes from gardens to cultural landscapes (Buggey,
1999b 1 Quoted in Dormaar and Barsh, The Prairie Landscape: Perception of
Reality, 2000, p. 23.). However, the Persian Garden is seen as a structure in Iran.
Because, the existing national legal framework in Iran do not isolated gardens as
cultural landscape from other national properties, which therefore, there aren’t
any specific standards and guidelines for preserving tangible and intangible
aspects of Persian Gardens. The study of Afif-Abad Garden illustrates how a
lack of recognition of values and inadequate and often inappropriate legal
framework have resulted in major management and conservation challenges.
Protection of Persian Gardens is almost impossible if there is no policy for
conservation followed by owners. Different aspects of the Persian Gardens
should also be studied. The aim of this paper is to investigate the tangible and
intangible aspects of the Persian Garden to identify Paradise as a cultural
landscape as the basis of developing a comprehensive conservation policy.
2 The Persian Garden
The Persian Garden is a record of interaction between Iranian people and their
natural environment that envisions the ancient Persians’ conception and
understanding of the world and of the heavens with a great appreciation of
natural features. It has been sustained by responding and adaptation to a variety
of climatic, functional, social, technical, and cultural changes. One of the most
important cultural changes occurred during the Arab occupation Persian Garden
has been influenced and transformed in a certain way and more successfully was
introduced and imported to the other Islamic regions. Since then the design has
also been called Islamic Garden and has been practiced vastly in different
countries.

3. 2.1 The Origin
The word "paradise" entered English from the French paradis, inherited from the
Latin paradisus, from Greek parádeisos ( ), and ultimately from an
old Iranian root, attested in Avestan as pairi.daêza (Jewell and Abate, 2001). The
literal meaning of this word is “a walled area” for describing the Persian Garden.
The word Paradise was used for the Garden of Eden, the abode of God and the
place where the virtuous live after death. The dream of a perfect place is very
ancient and appears in the Epic of Gilgamesh:
With crystal branches in the golden sands,
In this immortal garden stands the Tree,
With trunk of gold and beautiful to see.
It was thought of as the 'garden of the gods' and described as a 'paradise'. Earthly
gardens were made as representations of paradise. Water symbolized life, as it
was believed to be the source of life. Irrigation canals made cultivation possible.
Parts of the Iranian plateau were under cultivation by 3,000 BC. Plants and trees
symbolized deities. Its original meaning refers to an extensive and well orderly
garden, that it appears as a beautiful and pleasant place, where besides trees and
flowers, there are animals in freedom. (BUTRAGUEÑO DÍAZ-GUERRA, 2008:
43). According to archaeological evidence, the first root of Persian Garden has
been found in Pasargadae in the 6th century BC (Curtis and Nigel, 2005).
2.2 As Cultural Landscape
The very notion of landscape is highly cultural, and it may seem redundant to
speak of cultural landscapes; but the describing term ‘cultural’ has been added to
express the human interaction with the environment and the presence of tangible
and intangible cultural values in the landscape (Mitchell et. al., 2009:17).
The American geographer of German origin Carl O. Sauer developed the concept
of cultural landscape further through his Morphology of Landscape (1925). This
approach saw landscape as an area of natural features, modified and influenced
by cultural forces. This approach included intangible values and cultural
expressions not immediately evident, such as literature, poetry, painting and
photography, rituals and traditional production. The key values of a landscape
territory could be therefore assessed through research and documented through
the evidence of associative connections (Mitchell et. al., 2009:18).
The Persian Garden envisions the ancient Persians’ conception and
understanding of the world and of the heavens with a great appreciation of
natural features. Therefore Persian Gardens are cultural landscapes which based
on the World Heritage Operational Guidelines, most of them could be classified
under category I- landscape designed and created intentionally by man

4. (UNESCO World Heritage Center, 2008, Annex III). This research
emphasizes that Persian gardens are places where tangible and intangible values
are integrated. As Bandarin pointed out ‘the need to distance ourselves from the
notion that “the city is a monument” (…) to date we have not considered
intangible values enough’ (Bandarin, quoted in Sirisrisak, 2007), it is possible to
distance ourselves from the notion that “the garden is a monument”.
2.3 The Major Causes of Poor Conservation
Recent transformations sometimes destruct and distort cultural heritage, and
sometimes respect the identity of the places and pre-existences (Scazzosi,
2003:55). In Iran, historical gardens characteristics have changed recently which
has undesirably affected their historical value especially intangible aspects
largely neglected. To deal with conservation challenges, understanding the
causes of challenges is crucial. Two major causes of poor conservation of
Persian Gardens are investigated as follows:
2.3.1 Not Considering the Persian Garden as Cultural Landscape
One of the causes of conservation challenges might be that major focus of
conservation policies of historical gardens is on tangible aspects, especially
buildings and structures. The existing national policies in Iran do not adequately
address cultural landscapes. The organization responsible for ensuring the
protection of all historical monuments and cultural environments is the Iranian
Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts, and Tourism Organization (ICHHTO). The
ICHHTO’s historic conservation policies and regulations with respect to historic
landscapes fall short of the effort expanded for cultural landscape. The major
focus of the organization is buildings, structures, and monuments. Historic
gardens are only acknowledged as heritage sites, and only if accommodating a
structure. Iranian organizations follow their respective national criteria, which do
not isolated gardens as cultural landscapes from other national properties.
Therefore, there are not any specific standards and guidelines for preserving
tangible and intangible aspects of Persian Gardens. It is one of the greatest
challenges of the Persian Gardens conservation.
Cultural landscapes are not protected and are under threat because of a
misapplication of theory in practice, and due to lack of understanding of the
concept of cultural landscape and its categories in local and cultural contexts. In
Iran, tangible and intangible elements of Persian Garden are under threat of lack
of a theoretical framework for understanding Persian Gardens as cultural
landscapes.
It is essential to shift from the consideration of historic Persian Garden as ‘site’
to a type of cultural landscape. The conservation and management of historical
gardens, as cultural landscapes, is an important issue because cultural landscape
is a heritage of many eras of natural evolution and of many generation of human
effort (Wagner and Miskell, quoted in Fowler, 1999).

5. 2.3.2 Owners Interest as the Basis of Changes in the Gardens
The other important issue on the secondary alteration is owner diversity of
gardens and there are no statutory management guidelines for the physical and
functional conservation. Due to lack of management guidelines, historical
gardens have changed physically and functionally based on gardens owners’
strategies and interests, besides conservation of historic values is not the main
interest of some owners (Eshrati & Parsayi, 2010).
To deal with these challenges, developing a comprehensive management policy
considered the Persian Garden as cultural landscape, which is applicable to
different owners might be useful. “Heritage Landscape Think Tank,” the NZHPT
concluded that the most important tool for protection is understanding.
Interpretation (knowledge sharing) leads to recognition which leads to
protection” (NZHPT, 2003: 9). Since increasing awareness and understanding of
both tangible and intangible aspects of cultural landscape is critical to develop a
comprehensive conservation policy, some of the most important tangible and
intangible aspects of the Persian Garden are carried out in this paper.
In this paper, in an attempt to address some challenges of conservation
management of Persian gardens, conservation of Afif-Abad Garden is presented.
Afif-Abad Garden (also known as Golshan Garden) is a one of the oldest historic
Persian Garden in Shiraz, near Pasargadae. During the Safavid era, it was used as
a palace by the Safavid Shahs. The current Kushk (refers to the main building of
gardens and the English word kiosk is taken from that) was reconstructed by
Mirza Ali Mohammadkhan Ghawam II in 1863. He bought a nearby qanat (A
technique that makes use of underground drainage tunnels for catching water
resources) to water his garden (Ariyanpour, 1985: 282-290). After his death the
garden was eventually inherited by a woman named Afife, thus being called
Afif-Abad. In 1962 the main part of the garden was bought and restored by the
army. Its Kushk is now functioning as a weapons museum. The other part has
been redesigned as a park by Shiraz Municipality.
3 Understanding Tangible and Intangible Aspects of the
Persian Gardens
Based on considering the Persian Garden as cultural landscape, both tangible and
intangible aspects of Persian Gardens should be protected. As new cooperation
among UNESCO’s cultural heritage Conventions with the 2003 Convention on
the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage on the interaction between
the tangible and intangible heritage shows, in reality, the division of multiple-
layer aspects of Persian Garden into tangible and intangible is not possible but in
order to make theory more practical, this separation is used in this paper.
Following proposed elements could be useful as a basis for understanding
tangible and intangible aspects of the Persian Garden.

6. 3.1 Tangible Elements of the Persian Garden
Most Persian Gardens have some tangible elements in common which can be
divided into natural, man-made, and natural-man-made elements. Considering
these categories equally is essential for developing a comprehensive
conservation policy. However, the major focus of ICHHTO is buildings,
structures, and monuments. Historic gardens are only acknowledged as heritage
sites, and only if accommodating a structure so conservation of natural and
natural-man-made elements has often been neglected.
3.1.1 Natural Elements
The most common natural elements are water, trees (evergreen and deciduous)
and flowers, birds, animals, etc. Gardens were planned in axial rectangular
patterns of simplicity, clarity, discipline, and delicacy. Natural elements differ in
diverse climates found in Iran. For example, in Shiraz, located in a plains, the
Cypress is the major species of historical gardens. But in Brijand, a small town
in the heart of desert, pines are the major species.
3.1.2 Man-made Elements
The most common man-made elements are enclosing walls, water features,
Kushk, architectural structures, designed ornaments, furniture, decoration, pools,
and water canals.
3.1.3 Natural-Man-made Elements
Persian Gardens have some tangible elements which shaped by both natural
elements and man-made elements such as main View, skyline, and visual
boundary.
Main View- The Persian Garden main view is a splendid view from Ivan
(veranda) of Kushk to the main approach avenue of the garden. In Iranian
landscape designing, a high place from which it is possible to see the main view
is called Nazargah. Vita Sackville West visited Persia in 1927 contributed a
chapter on Persian Gardens to Arberry's The Legacy of Persia in 1953. She
described the role of Nazargah and the main view of the Persian Garden as
follows: “ At the Rashk-i Bihisht (meaning Envy of Paradise), some two miles
out of Shiraz it was raining, and Browne the Englishman expressed regret that
the weather should be so bad, as they sat in a pavilion [Kushk] watching the
dripping trees.‘Bad?’ exclaimed his host. ‘Why, it is beautiful weather! Just the
day one would wish: a real spring day.’ There is nothing, he adds, which a
Persian enjoys more than to sit sipping his wine from the shelter of a summer-
house while he gazes on the falling rain-drops and sniffs up the moist, soft air
laden with the grateful scent of the reviving flowers. This little anecdote gives us
the whole meaning of his garden to a Persian. It is not a place where he wants to
stroll; it is a place where he wants to sit and entertain his friends with
conversation, music, philosophical discourse, and poetry; and if he can watch the
spring rain pouring down, so much the better, for he knows it will not come
again for months and months and months” (Vita, 1953: 287).

7. The Nazargah of Afif-Abad Garden is the east Ivan. The Ivan affords a
panoramic view across the main grassy square of the garden, continued to the
main avenue of the garden at the end of the square. Keeping the visitors from
entering the Ivan and constructing a bordering wall by owners in the garden
blocking the main view have become the consequences of lack of attention to the
main view as a tangible aspect and focusing on conservation of structures.
Skyline/ Visual Boundary- Skyline is an element derived from the viewpoint of
cultural landscape. It is ‘the line or shape that is formed where the sky meets
buildings or the land’ (Sirisrisak, 2007: 5). In addition to garden skyline, visual
boundary is one of the unwritten characteristic of historical Persian Gardens
which means being able to only see the sky when a visitor looks outside from the
garden. Conservation of the skyline and visual boundary of historical garden
could play an important role to heighten the public awareness. Visual boundary
of Afif-Abad Garden will have been damaged by building a high-rise structure
near Afif-Abad Garden.
3.2 Intangible Elements of the Persian Garden
3.2.1 Sense of Unity
In Iran, Sense of unity is one of the major intangible aspects of urban designing,
architecture, gardening, and art. It derived from Islamic vision considering the
universe in unity and inviting all the people to this unity (Ardalalan & Bakhatiar,
1975). The pattern of the Persian Garden is one of the best manifestations of this
unity in landscape design, which has continued in Iran and other Islamic
countries.
It is essential to protect this unity at various levels. However, in many historic
gardens, the diversity of ownership has become an agent of destroying the unity.
For example Afif-Abad Garden has been encountered fundamental changes in
recent century, which ruined the unity of the garden. Main owners of this garden
are now: 1) Islamic Republic of Iran Army, and 2) Shiraz Municipality, and for
neither of them protection of historic values is not the priority. The main part
owned by the Army was divided into: 1) the Garden and the Weapons Museum,
2) the Army Resorts (entering this part of the garden is forbidden for ordinary
people and barracks and a mosque are under construction), and 3) the
Celebrations and Wedding Hall (By building an extension to the garden to hold
local celebrations). The other part has been redesigned as a park by Shiraz
Municipality in which traces of elements and plan of historic garden designing
has been used. The division, functional changes, and extensions have not
respected the sense of unity.
3.2.2 Privacy
Privacy is one of the intangible aspects of the Persian Garden presented by
intangible elements such as walls. All Persian gardens are walled in. It is part of

8. their character. Sometimes in the past, these walls were elaborated with
battlements and with round pigeon-towers at the angles (Sackville West, 1953:
276). Creswell (1968) sees the clustering of walls, buildings, and tall trees as a
prerequisite for the privacy needed to develop the hidden qualities of the spirit.
Lesiuk (1980) notes that enclosing the earthly garden with walls and buildings is
a metaphoric gesture recalling its heavenly archetype.
Shiraz Municipality ignorance about privacy, as an intangible aspect, caused
destroying the historical enclosing wall of Afif-Abad Garden. Consequently,
redesigned part as a park is not as private as other parts.
3.2.3 Function
The functions of historical Persian Gardens can be classified into five categories:
1) social, 2) cultural, 3) military, 4) entertainment, and 5) religious functions
(Eshrati & Parsayi, 2010).
Since the owners are not generally aware of the historic and artistic
characteristics of the gardens, indiscriminate changes are made in gardens. The
correct conservation of gardens has to consider the historical functions. Breaking
down this relation can weaken the memorial links between the gardens and the
local people’s lives. These links indicate the relation between the architectonic
and is of the most important factor of changing the characteristic of historical
gardens. Revival of historical function of Afif-Abad Garden, for instance, can
play an important role in its cultural survival. It could increase the chance of
gardens survival as a cultural landscape, not as a monument.
3.2.4 Association with Art and Poetry
Some experts believe that the archetype of Persian garden is the source of all
Iranian arts. (Javaheriyan, 2004: 14). Its influence on some arts like carpet
designing, painting, miniature, architectural ornaments, calligraphy, gilding,
pottery and ceramics and tile work is evident.
There is no doubt that Persian Literature and Persian Gardens are associated with
each other. Javaherian explains: “I do not know whether the Garden was created
first and then a poet took his/her steps and started writing poetry, or once a poet
started gardening (Javaherian, 2004: 18). In Persian literature, for describing
gardens, there are two points of view: Earthen Gardens and Holly Gardens.
In addition to these elements, there are some intangible elements such as names
of the gardens, stories/ history, social event/ tradition, and local belief, which
should be considered in developing a comprehensive conservation policy. (See
Table 1)

9. Table 1
4 Toward a Comprehensive Conservation
As discussed in earlier sections, for developing a comprehensive conservation
policy, considering garden as cultural landscape and not only as a site could be
useful. As a result of this consideration, conservation of both tangible and
intangible aspects of Persian gardens is essential. Since recognition leads to
conservation, in this paper, some of the most important tangible and intangible
aspects of Persian gardens are investigated.
In order to protect tangible and intangible aspects of Persian Gardens, the
conservation should not focus only within the gardens, but it should be consider
at different decision-making levels. Hence, in this paper, it is recommended to

10. conserve historical gardens at three levels. Some conservation actions should
be followed by owners and the others should be included in urban development
plans. Therefore the connection between owners practices and national policies,
which is a critical factor in successful conservation activities, may be
strengthened. The Conservation Levels recommended as follows:
4.1 Large Level (National Level)
The basis of irrigation system of most of the Persian Gardens is qanat which
brings underground water from a distance away to the surface of the Earth. This
water flows on the ground and the agricultural farms and fruit gardens are
watered in its path. City water supply system also will be provided, and finally
this water brings about one of the main aesthetic characters of the Persian
Gardens. Due to new urban projects, such as construction of subways, some of
canals and historical qanats were destroyed. On the other hand, the survival of
many historic gardens is under threat of over-exploitation of underground water
resources. A comprehensive conservation policy which considers gardens as
cultural landscape requires garden irrigation system to be conserved. At large
level, infrastructure such as water canals and historical qanats should be
protected.
4.2 Middle Level (Urban Level)
Uncontrolled growth of the cities generates a loss of the city-planning quality.
Lack of consideration of Gardens, especially historic gardens, in urban planning
could threat the tangible and intangible aspects of gardens such as the gardens
skyline and the visual boundary. In addition to threat an effective cultural
landscape conservation, it might be one of the factor caused the historical
gardens missed their roles in urban sustainable development.
4.3 Small Level (Site Level)
At Small level, protection of tangible and intangible element is vital to survival
of historic characteristic of Persian Gardens.
5 Conclusion
Investigating the condition of Persian Gardens illustrates different conservation
challenges. In this study, not considering the Persian Garden as cultural
landscape and considering owners interests as the basis of changes in the gardens
have been introduced as the two major causes of the challenges. Therefore there
is a need to review the existing national legal framework in Iran. A partial
solution may be to begin with developing a comprehensive management policy
considered the Persian Garden as cultural landscape, which is applicable to
different owners. To achieve this aim, understanding of both tangible and
intangible aspects of the Persian Garden could be useful. This paper has also

11. proposed the elements for understanding of the Persian Gardens as cultural
landscape comprised of the tangible and intangible elements.
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to sincerely thank Dr. Azade Ahmadi for her comments
and insights on this paper.
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