Modernization initiatives and architectural instrumentalization after Nasser al-Din Shah’s travels to the West (1873-1896)

Abstract

The 19th century Iran, like other non-Western geographies had a traditional cultural, urban, social and production style. The Turkic Qajar dynasty which sub-ordinated other local authorities in Iran in the late 18th and early 19th centuries wanted to appear on the world’s global stage as a political union. With this mo-tivation, from the second half of the 19th century, the efforts to modernise Iran gained a new pace under the rule of Nasser al-Din Shah (1848-1896) who was the first Iranian ruler visited Western Europe. Nasser al-Din Shah desired to both join the country to the modern industrial world, and in this way, open new areas of legitimacy for his own political power. In this period modernization initiatives also gave serious outputs in the built environment in Iranian cities. Tehran, in particular, was the epicentre of this transformation where many initiatives took place, seized an important step towards the end of the century in order to achieve the appearance of modern European countries as much as possible.