History of Land Design, Horticulture: The Persian Gardens

Gardens can be described as the purest of human pleasure and the ultimate refreshment to the human spirit. Fundamentally, the Persian Gardens are believed to be symbolic sites that were developed in an attempt to establish the biblical Garden of Eden. The cultural aspects and identity of a society can be epitomized in the architectural design that is adopted by the civilizations of that era. Notably, design and architecture can be regarded as the primary interface for conveying the meaning and the identity of various cultural aspects among generations. The Persian gardens have been developed throughout the history of Persian Empire and are seen to respect and conform to cultural and religious elements of Persian society.

The Persian gardens were created and designed with a sacred geometry and architectural design that was meant to accentuate the union of the mortal material world with that of the eternal universe described in religious inscriptions. The earliest Persian gardens were established in 600BC in a palace area that neighbored Pasargadae during the reign of King Cyrus the Great. The primary designs of the gardens were influenced by the Zoroastrian division of the universe into four elements, the four seasons, and the four sacred components of the world; wind, water, soil, and fire. The gardens had numerous species of shrubs, trees, flowers, and other types of vegetation. A preternatural emotion for flowers and the Persian affection for gardens is a demonstration of the superlative values and concepts that acts as the bridge connecting the world of matter and meaning. The philosophical design adopted in building the Persian gardens is immensely influenced by the sacred and cultural elements observed by the Persian culture. Notably, the design of the gardens is reflected in other forms of materials such as the Persian carpets, potteries, and other visual arts.

The most idiosyncratic feature of the Persian gardens which influence the pensive nature of the Persian society is the huge brick walls that were erected around the rectangular plans of the gardens. The architectures of these gardens majorly used perpendicular angles and straight lines. Moreover, the gardens had pols and ponds that supplied water to the vegetation and also highlighted the scenic landscape view which was decorated with evergreen and deciduous trees and multiple flowering vegetation that were strategically located near a focal pavilion regarded as Kooshk.

In my opinion, the Persian gardens are important in explaining the religious, the architectural and the cultural aspects of the Persian community. Notably, the initial structure of the gardens was influenced by the quadripartite division which contained a pavilion at its intersection. This architectural design can be based on the pre-Islamic Iranian division of the universe into four quarters. Such division might have been influenced by the geometrical motifs that were prominent in the Sindh and Mesopotamian civilization.