Case Studies

‘See Isfahan and you’ve seen half the world,’ says a Persian Proverb. Which is pushing it, but have a quick wander around the Iranian city’s central Imam square – one of the biggest in the world – and the surrounding streets and you’ll see where they’re coming from. Every way you turn you’ll find thousand-year-old mosques, palaces and mosques with startlingly elaborate carvings and mosaics, such as seen here, on the dome of the Lotfollah Mosque, built in 1618. A tunnel runs under Imam Square connecting the mosque to the Ali Qapu Palace, once allowing the shah’s harem to move to prayer unobserved.