The Role of the Water System in the Eternity of the Persian Garden

Abstract

As a manifestation of Iran’s landscape, the Persian Garden has reflected the thoughts, beliefs, and culture of Iranian-Islamic people throughout history. This gardening pattern has characteristics that have distinguished it from other gardening styles in the world. One of which is the water system in the Persian Garden. In the vast hot and dry areas of Iran, water has had an essential presence as evidenced by historical examples - from the oldest example in Pasargadae to the contemporary period – and water is considered one of the identity factors of the Persian Garden; Although the appearance of the water system and its nature in the Persian Garden as a product of human interaction with the environment has changed over time. The main purpose of this study is to explain the role of the water system in the eternity of the Persian Garden. To achieve this goal, first, the concept of eternity was defined and its criteria were extracted to form the theoretical model of the research. This theoretical model, which includes functional, climatic, socio-cultural, and semantic-aesthetic criteria, was then compared to the indicators of the water system obtained from the studies on the Persian Garden. To achieve these purposes, a combination of descriptive-analytical and historical research methods was used. The methods of data collection were in the form of library and field studies in addition to interviews with experts to achieve a comprehensive understanding of eternity, the Persian Garde,n and the water system. The method of information evaluation was qualitative according to the contents and the results were obtained through the analytical-inductive method. Based on this, the main question of the research has been answered and the final result was that the use of water in the Persian Garden was not instrumental, and maintaining a mental connection and assigning a meaningful role to it was the factor of the eternity of the Persian Garden; Because in the belief of Iranians, both before and after Islam, water has been a source of purification and has a sacred and meaningful role and has given life to the garden.

Keywords

• persian garden
• eternity
• water system
• landscape sustainability