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    My favorite artworks from European Museums

    My favorite artworks from European Museums

    Gandhara Art in Humboldt Forum: Life of Lord Buddha

    Gandhara Art in Humboldt Forum: Life of Lord Buddha

    Jewish Heroes Square in Krakow, Poland

    Jewish Heroes Square in Krakow, Poland

    Block no. 4 in Auschwitz concentration camp

    Block no. 4 in Auschwitz concentration camp

    Ottoman tent in Princess Czartoryski Museum in Krakow, Poland

    Ottoman tent in Princess Czartoryski Museum in Krakow, Poland

    The Steam Engine Building, Potsdam, Germany

    The Steam Engine Building, Potsdam, Germany

    Assyrian human-headed winged bull from Nimrud; 9th cent. BCE; Pergamon Museum, Berlin

    Assyrian human-headed winged bull from Nimrud; 9th cent. BCE; Pergamon Museum, Berlin

    Catacombs in St Peter’s Abbey Salzburg, Austria

    Catacombs in St Peter’s Abbey Salzburg, Austria

    St Nicholas Church in #Leipzeg, #Germany

    St Nicholas Church in #Leipzeg, #Germany

    Gloriette, Schonbrunn Palace, Vienna,Austria

    Gloriette, Schonbrunn Palace, Vienna,Austria

    Matthias Church on Buda Castle Hill, Budapest

    Matthias Church on Buda Castle Hill, Budapest

    The Neptune fountain in Schonbrunn Palace, Vienna, Austria

    The Neptune fountain in Schonbrunn Palace, Vienna, Austria

    The Dohany Street synagogue in Budapest

    St Peter’s Abbey Church in Salzburg, Austria

    St Peter’s Abbey Church in Salzburg, Austria

    The Residence Fountain in Salzburg: Oundof Music

    The Residence Fountain in Salzburg: Oundof Music

    Sultana Daku and Raj Bhawan of Nainital

    Sultana Daku and Raj Bhawan of Nainital

    Sultana Daku and Raj Bhawan of Nainital

    Sultana Daku and Raj Bhawan of Nainital

    Jahan koshan cannon, Murshidabad

    Jahan koshan cannon, Murshidabad

    Takht-e Marar, Golestan Palance, Teheran, Iran

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      My favorite artworks from European Museums

      My favorite artworks from European Museums

      Gandhara Art in Humboldt Forum: Life of Lord Buddha

      Gandhara Art in Humboldt Forum: Life of Lord Buddha

      Jewish Heroes Square in Krakow, Poland

      Jewish Heroes Square in Krakow, Poland

      Block no. 4 in Auschwitz concentration camp

      Block no. 4 in Auschwitz concentration camp

      Ottoman tent in Princess Czartoryski Museum in Krakow, Poland

      Ottoman tent in Princess Czartoryski Museum in Krakow, Poland

      The Steam Engine Building, Potsdam, Germany

      The Steam Engine Building, Potsdam, Germany

      Assyrian human-headed winged bull from Nimrud; 9th cent. BCE; Pergamon Museum, Berlin

      Assyrian human-headed winged bull from Nimrud; 9th cent. BCE; Pergamon Museum, Berlin

      Catacombs in St Peter’s Abbey Salzburg, Austria

      Catacombs in St Peter’s Abbey Salzburg, Austria

      St Nicholas Church in #Leipzeg, #Germany

      St Nicholas Church in #Leipzeg, #Germany

      Gloriette, Schonbrunn Palace, Vienna,Austria

      Gloriette, Schonbrunn Palace, Vienna,Austria

      Matthias Church on Buda Castle Hill, Budapest

      Matthias Church on Buda Castle Hill, Budapest

      The Neptune fountain in Schonbrunn Palace, Vienna, Austria

      The Neptune fountain in Schonbrunn Palace, Vienna, Austria

      The Dohany Street synagogue in Budapest

      St Peter’s Abbey Church in Salzburg, Austria

      St Peter’s Abbey Church in Salzburg, Austria

      The Residence Fountain in Salzburg: Oundof Music

      The Residence Fountain in Salzburg: Oundof Music

      Sultana Daku and Raj Bhawan of Nainital

      Sultana Daku and Raj Bhawan of Nainital

      Sultana Daku and Raj Bhawan of Nainital

      Sultana Daku and Raj Bhawan of Nainital

      Jahan koshan cannon, Murshidabad

      Jahan koshan cannon, Murshidabad

      Takht-e Marar, Golestan Palance, Teheran, Iran

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      Pul e Khaju in Isfahan

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      Isfahan is an ancient city with the kind of history that fascinates me. It has always been an important city of Persia but reached its zenith after 1598 when Shah Abbas Safavi made it his capital city.

      For me a visit to the city was a dream. On earlier visits to Iran I had only done ziarat ( pilgrimage) to Mashhad and Qom. This time I was determined to see Isfahan and do a pilgrimage of a different kind: the historical pilgrimage too. Not for nothing is it calked Nisf e Jahan ( half the world).

      I only had a day to see the parks, bridges, palaces, churches, mosques and shrines of imamzadehs. So I made the most of it.

      After a full day’s exploration we went to Pul e Khaju. It was near our hotel. I had read Anand Taneja ‘s book and also been told by him to go in the evening when the city gathered there.

      Pul e Khaju

      Pul e Khaju is on the Zāyandé-Rūd( Zayande River) : I fell in love with the name!

      The bridge on Iran’s largest river was built around 1650, under the reign of Abbas II, the seventh Safavid king (shah) of Iran, on the foundations of an older bridge. The existing inscriptions suggest that the bridge was repaired in 1873.

      It is decorated with paintings and tileworks.

      There is a pavilion located in the center of the structure, inside which Abbas II would have once sat, admiring the view. Today, it seems remnants of a stone seat is all that is left of the king’s chair. It’s locked so we weren’t able to see it from inside.

      As soon as I reached there I knew exactly what Anand had experienced.

      “I wept in that moment because, in viewing the celebration of life and beauty and music that occurs nightly at this bridge, I was reminded of another. The Satpula in Delhi, like the Pul-i Khaju, is a combination bridge and dam with marvelous vaulted arch-es. But where the Pul-i Khaju bustles with life and laughter and song, the Satpula lies dark and aban-doned. The stream that used to run through its sluices has been diverted around it and is also dark and fetid, full of untreated sewage.”

      “Jinnealogy: Time, Islam, and Ecological Thought in the Medieval Ruins of Delhi” by Anand Vivek Taneja.

      Photos from a historical walk in Satpula : you can see the similarities

      Like the Satpula, Pul e Khaju is also a weir but unlike the former it’s still functional

      It was evening and children were playing, Isfahanis were sitting on the edge enjoying the soothing sound of water.

      People were gathered around singers in the various arched vaults. They were joining in on the chorus, clapping and singing joyfully with him. Singing in the arches of the bridge is a tradition and one gets to hear the most glorious of Persian classical songs. All I could make out was the word mohabbat and I wished I knew Farsi.

      On the actual bridge on top there were more youngsters in the various arches, singing, playing music, meditating or just ruminating

      There are 23 arches in which singers and young people sit and enjoy.

      Besides functioning as a bridge and a weir, it also functions as a building and a place for public meetings.

      Legend has it that the eyes of the marble lions guarding either end of the bridge glow in the dark.

      It has 23 arches ( on lower level) with a length of 133 meters and width of 12 meters. The bridge passway is 7.5 meters wide and this two-storey bridge is made of bricks and stones

      As Upham Pope puts it:

      The culminating monument of Persian bridge architecture and one of the most interesting bridges extant…where the whole has rhythm and dignity and combines in the happiest consistency, utility, beauty, and recreation.

      There used to be tea houses but those are long gone.

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      Rana Safvi

      Come, explore and fall in love the Beauties of Delhi (Dilli ki Ranaiya’n) and the World with me, Rana Safvi

      I have a masters in medieval history from the prestigious Centre for Advanced Studies, Dept. of History, AMU. A firm believer in our Ganga Jamuni Tehzeeb, I am passionate about gaining and sharing knowledge and these days I am doing it via the social media platform.

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      © 2018 Rana Safvi - A blog Exploring Ganga Jamuni Tehzeeb of India, website handcrafted by Abu Sufiyan.