Pagodas in the Islamic Republic?

The following piece was written by an Iranian citizen journalist on the ground inside the country, who writes under a pseudonym to protect his identity.

Islamic Republic authorities often warn about the influence foreign movies and TV shows, especially those from the West and Hollywood, can have on the lifestyle of Iranians, without having much to say about productions from East Asian countries like China, Japan or Korea.

But a visit to a selection of Iranian towns and villages shows that traditional “Oriental” architecture — which for the most part has not influenced Iranian architecture — has found a place here. Some architecture critics believe that this phenomenon is a result of the popularity of East Asian films and television among Iranian audiences.

Shortly after the Islamic Revolution, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) set out to replace Western entertainment with something else entirely, something acceptable to the new Islamic Republic. At the time Iran was engaged in a long-running war with Iraq and domestic entertainment production capacity was extremely limited.

In the 1980s and 1990s, television programs from Eastern Asia were regularly shown on Iran’s state-run television stations. Among the most popular were “Oshin”, or “Years away from Home”, the story of a poor little girl who would some day become the owner of a big supermarket chain in Japan, “Water Margin” (“Fighters of the Mountain”), a Japanese series adapted from a classical Chinese novel about the adventures of 180 outlaws during the Song dynasty (960-1279).

In recent years the South Korean series “A Jewel in the Palace” has become popular. It tells the story of young girl in Korea 500 years ago who overcomes social discrimination to become a royal cook and, eventually, a royal physician. Also popular are “Jumong,” a Korean historical drama series, and another Korean historical adventure, “Emperor of the Sea”.

What most of these series have in common is that they are about bygone times in Japan, Korea or China, not present day Iran or anywhere else. They are set in East Asian countries, often with ancient Chinese architecture and slightly later Buddhist temples as a backdrop, inspirational settings complete with terracotta roofs and sharp, protruding edges.

Arches vs. Sharp Angles

On the other side of Asia, in Iran and the Middle East, new buildings are patterned after traditional Iranian and Islamic architecture, which favors arches, domes, anticlines and synclines instead of triangular edges with acute or sharp angles. This Middle Eastern and Iranian style is especially visible in mosques, palaces, bazaars, bridges and other buildings from the Safavid period (1501-1722), the most magnificent of which can be found in the ancient city of Isfahan, though the style can be found in even the most humble abodes.

But over the past 20 years, the sharp angles of Asian buildings have made their way to Iran. Almost every day, there is a building going up that features distinct “Oriental” façades — restaurants, villas and houses that resemble pagodas.

“Architecture is not a closed and exact science that imposes a uniform look and structure,” says architect Payam Alirezaei. “The architectures of different countries and cultures have always been influenced by each other. The difference is that what has become popular in recent years is not a result of cultural exchange, but instead comes from a desire to adopt the exterior view of this architecture because of what the Iranian television audience has seen repeatedly on IRIB for many years. I find it ugly and annoying.”

“Because of the broadcast of these TV series and these images, the people who build and promote such buildings cannot be called architects in any sense of the word,” Alirezaei adds. “They tell their clients that they can build a roof like those seen in ‘Jumong’, and some of them agree. Had they observed all the principles of the actual Oriental architecture it would have been different, but what we have now are ugly copies of the exteriors of this architecture.”

The construction market, however, does not agree. Roofs known as “Japanese”, “Korean” or “Chinese” now command a considerable share of the market, especially in northern Iran and when it comes to building villas.

Firoozeh Kashani, Citizen Journalist, Shiraz