The Bazaar of Isfahan

Português :

Uma ampla e notável visão sobre a cidade iraniana de ISFAHAN, antiga capital da Pérsia, cidade classificada Património Mundial pela UNESCO, singular na expressão da arte islâmica

O livro THE BAZAAR OF ISFAHAN ilustra a arquitectura e a vida urbana desse impressionante e notável bazar (mercado de rua) de Isfahan, estabelecendo a relação entre o passado e o presente do bazar, entre a arquitectura e as ruas e espaços onde se desenvolve este complexo comercial. Documenta o espaço urbano e a riqueza dos edifícios e lugares do bazar com ênfase na sua vertente histórica e artística, testemunhando com imagens únicas o dia-a-dia dos seus moradores e utilizadores.

THE BAZAAR OF ISFAHAN tem introdução de Marcel Vellinga, professor de Antropologia da Arquitectura em Oxford, que contextualiza a obra e os seus autores, detalhando a história da sua realização e situando o seu conteúdo no âmbito dos outros trabalhos dos seus autores, especialistas nas temáticas históricas e arquitectónicas do Médio Oriente.

O livro inclui 165 belas imagens e desenhos e uma extensa e dedicada bibliografia para orientação da pesquisa nas temáticas históricas, arquitectónicas e sociológicas do espaço urbano e da arte islâmica.

ING:

An extensive and remarkable insight about this Iranian city.

The Bazaar of Isfahan was effectively produced in the 1970s and details the architecture and life of the well-known bazaar in Isfahan (Iran). Although a fundamental part of the Isfahan cityscape, the bazaar has never received much scholarly attention.

The book fills this gap, relating the present of the Bazaar (as it was in the 1970s) to its past, and the architecture and organization of the complex to its changing functions. It provides documentation of the architecture of the bazaar, while at the same time emphasising the social experience of the complex, recording the everyday life of its inhabitants and users by means of both its text and images. In the latter respect in particular, it is truly unique.

The book is published as originally envisioned. Although written by Paul Oliver in the mid-1970s, the text is still accurate in terms of its facts and provides a fascinating glimpse of life in Isfahan during that period. The drawings, plans and photographs remain of great interest, as they capture the bazaar as it was during the 1970s and as such provide a rare glimpse of its recent history.

The Bazaar of Ishfahan includes an introductory essay by the editor, Marcel Vellinga, that provides an historic and academic contextualisation and details the history of the book, situates it in the context of the authors’ other work, and positions it within contemporary and subsequent scholarship on Isfahan architecture and Safavid cultural history.

The book also includes a glossary to help all those unfamiliar with the architectonic, historical or sociological terms.