Explaining the Role of Cultural and Architectural Changes in India on the Development of Romantic Architecture in the Facades of Government Buildings in Zahedan (Pahlavi I Period)

Shahraki Moghadam, Gohar; Soheili, Jamaleddin; Armaghan, Maryam

doi:10.22034/jaco.2025.499522.1443

Explaining the Role of Cultural and Architectural Changes in India on the Development of Romantic Architecture in the Facades of Government Buildings in Zahedan (Pahlavi I Period)

https://doi.org/10.22034/jaco.2025.499522.1443

Volume 13, Issue 49
Autumn 2025

Pages 14-31

Journal of Art and Civilization of the Orient

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Gohar Shahraki Moghadam

Jamaleddin Soheili

Maryam Armaghan

Department of Architecture, Qazvin Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qazvin, Iran.

Abstract

India has always been an important cultural neighbor of Iran, both near and far. During the reign of the First Pahlavi, this country had a significant role in shaping the architecture of the southeastern cities of Iran, particularly Zahedan for various reasons. Architecture has historically maintained a strong connection with cultural factors, and the developments that have occurred in this field have had noticeable effects on architecture. Understanding the significance of how these cultural and architectural transformations in India have influenced the architecture of Zahedan is the subject of this writing. Therefore, the main research question is: What components and characteristics define the Romantic architecture of Zahedan, influenced by the cultural and architectural transformations of India? This research is of a historical-interpretive nature and, based on historical documents and field observations, will analyze the role of these movements in the emergence of Romanticism in the architecture of Zahedan and the manifestation of physical characteristics in the architecture of this city during the First Pahlavi period through a descriptive-analytical method. The results of the research indicate that the architecture of Zahedan during the First Pahlavi era was influenced by Indian Romanticism, and the wise application of its themes in the architecture of this period in Zahedan reflects connections with neighboring countries in the mentioned geography, either directly or indirectly. These connections have allowed cultural and architectural transformations to penetrate the essence and structure of urban architecture in Iran and visibly affect it. The most important characteristics of Romanticism, such as nature-oriented design using local materials, a focus on human emotions and feelings through the use of light, color, and specific spatial proportions, an emphasis on storytelling and narrative through the use of symbolic representations from historical tales, idealism and classicism through the creation of ideal spaces, and modernity through the application of innovative methods in the architecture of government buildings in Zahedan, have been prominently displayed.

Keywords

Romantic Architecture

Indian Architecture

Zahedan Architecture

Government Buildings

First Pahlavi Era

Alavi, N. K. (2020). A glimpse of socio-political situation of Saravan in contemporary times. Research Journal of Iran Local Histories, 8(15), 123-144. https://doi.org/10.30473/lhst.2020.34347.1924
• Ali-Soufi, A., & Oveisi, A. (2012). Changes of land ownership in Sistan province during Pahlavi I. Research Journal of Iran Local Histories, (1), 86-105. https://www.magiran.com/p1167585
• Alizadeh, M. A., & Tarafdari, A. M. (2010). The effects of Nationalism discourse on cultural and sociological changes during the Reign of Pahlavi I. Scientific Journal of History Research, 19(5), 1-24. https://www.magiran.com/p1051178
• Bani-Masoud, A. (2021). Iranian contemporary architecture. Iranian Architect.
• Bayly, S. (2004). Imagining ‘greater India’: French and Indian visions of colonialism in the Indic mode. Modern Asian Studies, 38(3), 703-744. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X04001246
• Chamankar, M. J. (2020). Factors affecting the economic development of the coasts and post-coasts of the Persian gulf and the sea of Oman in the first Pahlavi Period. History of Islam and Iran, 30(46), 59-86. https://doi.org/10.22051/hii.2020.24197.1897
• Dadbakhsh, M., & Salimi, H. (2019). کوشش برای باسازی ساختار اقتصادی ایران در دورۀ رضاشاه (با تکیه بر تئوری اقتصاد ملی فردریک لیست [Efforts to reconstruct Iran’s economic structure during the Reza Shah era (based on Friedrich list’s national economics theory)]. Economic History Studies of Iran, 2(8), 85–106. [in Persian]. https://civilica.com/doc/1124203/
• Duggett, T. (2016). Gothic forms of time: architecture, romanticism, medievalism. Romantic Gothic: An Edinburgh Companion, 339-360.
• Eiraji, J., & Fard, S. A. R. Y. (2021). An evaluation of Iran architecture during first Pahlavi era: A transition from tradition to modernity. Journal of Design for Resilience in Architecture and Planning, 2(2), 222-233. https://doi.org/10.47818/DRArch.2021.v2i2021
• Estavar, M. (2021). نقش نخبگان فکری در سیاست‌گذاری فرهنگی پهلوی اول [The role of intellectual elites in the cultural policymaking of the First Pahlavi era]. Intercultural Studies Journal, 16(46), 39-48. [in Persian]
• Frank, M. (2004). The philosophical foundations of early German romanticism. SUNY Press.
• Gast, K. P. (2007). Moderne Traditionen: Zeitgenössische Architektur in Indien. Birkhäuser Basel.
• Hagh Jou, A., Soltan Zadeh, H., Tehrani, F., & Ayvazian, S. (2019). The trends and theoretical approaches of public and government buildings’ Architecture on the first and second Pahlavi era. Islamic Art Studies, 15(34), 154-170. https://doi.org/10.22034/ias.2019.95820
• Hall, D. W. (2016). Romantic naturalists, early environmentalists: An ecocritical study, 1789-1912. Routledge.
• Ivashko, Y., Kuzmenko, T. Li. S., & Chang, P. (2020). The influence of the natural environment on the transformation of architectural style. Landscape Architecture and Art, 15(15), 98-105. https://doi.org/10.22616/j.landarchart.2019.15.11
Jafari-Jazi, M. (1999).سر رمانتیسم در اروپا [The Secret of Romanticism in Europe]. Nashr-e Markaz. [in Persian]
• Khasm Afkan Nezam, E., & Kiani Hashemi, M. (2023). The dictatorial quasi-romanticism of the first Pahlavi government in the city of Bandar Anzali. Interdisciplinary Studies in Architecture and Urbanism Development, 2(1), 217–250. https://doi.org/10.30495/jisaud.2023.1977504.1038
• Kiani, M. (2004). معماری دورۀ پهلوی اول‌: دگرگونی اندیشه‌ها، پیدایش و شکل‌گیری معماری دورۀ بیست ساله معاصر ایران 1320 - 1299 [Architecture of the first Pahlavi period: Transformation of ideas, emergence, and formation of the architecture of Iran’s contemporary twenty-year period 1320-1299]. Institute for Contemporary Iranian History Studies. [in Persian]
• Klancher, J. (2013). English Romanticism and cultural production. In The new historicism. Routledge.
• Kudryashova, I., & Remizova, O. (2023). Semantic field of European romanticism architecture. AIP Conference Proceedings.
• Kumar, M. (2017). Contemporary history of India from 1947-2010. Publications Pvt.
• Lang, J. (2002). Early modern architecture in India: 1920 to 1950. Essay. In A Concise History of Modern.
• Metcalf, B., & Metcalf, TH. (2006). A concise history of modern India. Cambridge University Press.
• Michael, T. (2016). British romanticism and the critique of political reason. JHU Press.
• Mirinezhad, S. (2013). Romanticism in Iranian contemporary architecture. Journal of Fine Arts: Architecture & Urban Planning, 18(1), 91-102. https://doi.org/10.22059/jfaup.2013.36360
• Nayak, G. (2019). Socio-cultural and economic history of modern India. Skcg College Paralakhemundi.
• Nazari, A. A. (2007). Nationalism and Iranian identity: a case study of the First Pahlavi Period. Journal of Law and Politics, 9(22), 141-172.
• Ohadi, P., & Hajirajabali, K. (2015). Dialogue contextualization in cultural policies of the 1st Pahlavi. Political Quarterly, 45(4), 859-876. https://doi.org/10.22059/jpq.2015.55948
• Pai, D. (2020). Decomania: a comparative visual analysis of art deco architecture in Chicago and Mumbai (1920-1940)
[Ph. D thesis, School of the Art Institute of Chicago].
• Payandeh, H. (1994). The historical and social roots of romanticism. Arghanoon, 101-108.
• Piri, M., & Askarani, M. R. (2018). تأثیر روابط تجاری ایران با هند بر اقتصاد و تولیدات داخلی ایران [The Impact of Iran’s Trade Relations with India on Iran’s Economy and Domestic Production]. Nashriyeh-ye Ganjineh-ye Asnad, 28(2), 6-33. [in Persian]. https://www.doi.org/10.22034/ganj.2018.2285
• Ramsey, R. (2012). Building romanticism: literature and architecture in nineteenth-century Britain. Eighteenth-Century Fiction, 25(1), 283-285. https://doi.org/10.1353/ecf.2012.0041
• Rani, M., & Anushruti, D. (2024). Exploring romanticism in Indian English poetic tradition. International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (IJETIR), 1(4).
• Satpathy, B. B. (2015). Indian culture and heritage. Culture, 2, 25.
• Scriver, P., & Srivastava, A. (2015). India: modern architectures in history. Reaktion Books.
• Sepahi, A. (2014). بازتاب سیاست پهلوی‌ها در سیستان و بلوچستان: نگاهی به شانزده مقاله [Reflection of the Pahlavi policies in Sistan and Baluchestan: A look at the collection of sixteen articles]. Journal of Book Review of History, (1 & 2), 21-32. [in Persian]
• Vera, K. (2006). Neo-romanticism in architecture: synagogues in central and eastern Russian provinces. News of the Kazan State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering, 2(6), 20-22.
• Wood, J. L. (2012). From Romanticism to empire: Changing British perceptions of Indian architecture throughout the long nineteenth century [Master’s thesis, College of Charleston].
• Yousefifar, S., & Riahi, A. (2017). A Historical Study of Immigration Phenomenon in Undeveloped Societies: Study of Economic Reasons of Immigration during Pahlavi I Period in Zahedan. Journal of History Culture and Art Research, 6(2), 169-186. https://doi.org/10.7596/taksad.v6i2.654

XML

PDF 1.28 M

Full Text in second language