Iwan facts for kids

Great Mosque of Esfahan, View of the north iwan from the courtyard

An Iwan, also spelled ivan, is a rectangular hall or space, usually vaulted, walled on three sides, with one end entirely open. The formal gateway to the iwan is called pishtaq, a Persian term for a portal projecting from the face of a building, usually decorated with calligraphy bands, glazed tilework, and geometric designs.

Since the definition allows for some interpretation, the overall forms and characteristics can vary greatly in terms of scale, material, or decoration. Iwans are most commonly associated with Islamic architecture; however, the form is Iranian in origin and was invented much earlier and fully developed in Mesopotamia around the third century CE, during the Parthian period of Persia.

Typically, iwans open on to a central courtyard, and have been used in both public and residential architecture.

Images for kids

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  Multiple iwans and tiled domes of the 16th-century Persian-style Mir-i-Arab madrasa, Bukhara, Uzbekistan

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  View of iwan at Hatra (present-day Iraq)

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  Taq-i Kisra, Ctesiphon, Iran, c. 540

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  The Taj Mahal in Agra, India (17th century) uses iwans for both entrances and decorative features.

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  The courtyard of the Great Mosque of Isfahan, one of the earliest and most prominent uses of the four-iwan plan in mosque architecture, introduced in the early 12th century

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  Taq-i Bostan

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  The iwan of the Palace of Ardashir

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  Iwans in the Friday Mosque of Ardestan, Iran, added in 12th century by the Seljuks

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  Iwan inside the Hospital of Divriği, Turkey, built in Anatolia under Seljuk domination in the 13th century

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  Iwan in the Al-Firdaws Madrasa in Aleppo, Syria, built by the Ayyubids in the 13th century

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  Iwan entrance of the Bibi-Khanym Mosque in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, built by Timur in the early 15th century

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  Qibla-side iwan of the Madrasa of al-Ghuri (early 16th century) in Cairo, Egypt, an example of an iwan with a flat roof in Mamluk architecture

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  Iwan entrance of the Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque in Isfahan, Iran, built under the Safavids in the early 17th century

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  Iwan of the Āmeri House in Kashan, Iran (18th century)

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  Çifte Minareli Medrese (13th century) in Erzurum, Turkey, a variation of the four-iwan plan in Anatolian Seljuk architecture

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  Four-iwan layout at the Mosque-Madrasa of Sultan Hasan (14th century) in Cairo, Egypt

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  Interior of the Green Mosque (14th century) in Bursa, Turkey, an example of the modified four-iwan plan in early Ottoman architecture

See also

In Spanish: Iwán para niños