Correspondence Between the Content of the Cornice with Its Placement in Islamic Architecture (Comparative Study of Khan School, and the Mosques of Moshir-ol-Molk and Nasir-ol-Molk of Shiraz)

In Islamic period, cornice-based arrays of architecture, irrespective of the artistic and aesthetic aspects, have been full of spiritual and mystical concepts in the form of religious rituals and prayers of Allah. The purpose of present study is recognizing the relationship between architectural atmosphere and the concepts of cornices. This is done so to identify the reasons of selecting and using signs that can be found on cornices and the place of use. Khan school and the mosques of Moshir-ol-Molk and Nasir-ol-molk of Shiraz dated back to Safavi and Qajar period, have interesting designs from the artistic and aesthetic point of view and all these three structures have had educational-religious application. Therefore, in order to build a relationship between themes of cornices, their shapes and architectural atmosphere were investigated, and the relationship between the patterns themes of cornices and the architecture of the structures were studied. In the process of this study, field survey was used to achieve desired goals of investigating and reading the texts and themes of the cornices of constructions. Moreover, analytical-descriptive method was used to introduce, categorize and recognize their integrated relationship. The results of this study indicate that the orientation of the cornices are in the way that they show the presence of some verses with the themes of hymns and prayers, morning, God, paradise, human and pandemonium, name of the Imams, traditions about their application and their installation atmosphere and predicative cornices and construction date of these buildings. The eye catching points of the signs installation were the Koranic verse with the themes of morning, light and sun in the Eastern and Western sides changed in the times of sunrise and sunset. So we can say there is a conceptual relationship between the themes of the cornices in different parts of the building and their creator had been aware of its selection and installation.
Keywords: Khan School of Shiraz, Nasir-ol-Molk Mosque, Moshir-ol-Molk Mosque, Accommodation of the Cornice, Theme and Content.
 
Introduction
One of the most important features of religious architecture, such as mosques, is connections and combinations of cornice design with Qoran verses. The place of cornices and paying attention to select its themes and texts have been very significant in conveying these pre-thought concepts. This issue has been more visible in religious constructions such as mosques and schools of Shiraz especially in Khan School and Nasir-ol-molk and Moshir-ol-Molk mosques while this issue has not been investigated in these constructions yet. This is why the present study tries to investigate the meaningful and semantic relationship of cornice and architecture somatic in selecting themes of the verses and the location of cornices in the buildings by using field studies and reading the cornices of the building and receiving their time relationship of their construction by descriptive analysis. The research questions of the present study contain two fundamental issues that this study tries to answer:
- The cornices of Khan School, Nasir-ol-molk and Moshir-ol-Molk mosques contain what kind of conceptual and thematic issues?
- What is the relationship between the theme of the cornices of Khan School, Nasir-ol-molk and Moshir-ol-Molk mosques with architectural atmosphere?
The first hypothesis: Based on the research questions, it seems that the themes of the verses hymns and prayers of prophet and Imams, light, morning and night, paradise, man and resurrection, names of Imams, prayers, hadiths and inscriptions are related to building construction and there is an in common pattern of the themes for this kind of structures. This is because of the repetition of some themes in these constructions. The second hypotheses can be mentioned in the way that there is a chronological and conceptual relationship between building and selecting a text and theme of the cornices of the different parts with the building and the placement of architectural elements such as verandas and buddies in Khan school with Nasir-ol-Molk and Moshir-ol-Molk mosques and the artist deliberately had chosen and installed these verses and prays in pre-determined places based on their revelation and its meaning.  Moreover, the builder has considered the role of the Sun’s motion and the theme of light in adjusting text and the placement of some cornices. Since the main topic of this study is about reading concepts of the cornices and the design of tiling of Khan school with Nasir-ol-Molk and Moshir-ol-Molk mosques, descriptive, historical and analytic method was used to achieve exact and enough information in gathering data of this study based on available documents.
 
The Results of the Research
Most of the repaired cornices of Khan School as the Nasir-ol-Molk and Moshir-ol-Molk mosques are related to Qajar period and governorship of Naser al-Din Shah. In the entrance of these structures, predicative cornices by the subject of building a construct and the verse of Kosar, Tohid, Nasr and Hamd which are representative of praying profit, God and Imam Ali who are representative of three fundamental Shias’ principles, monotheism- prophecy and leadership are installed. Besides there are some cornices of praising Imam Ali that shows the builder’s belief and devotion by writing prays and his name on the body of all three buildings. Based on the investigations of cornices of Khan school we can say that the themes of these cornices contain Qoranic verses, Hadiths of Mohammad Profit, some verses of Imam Ali prayer poem, God’s features, prays and greeting to God and holly Mohammad, name of the architect, calligrapher and also the person who repaired the building (Naser al-Din Shah). Orientation of the cornices is based on their religious and spiritual themes. On the building of Khan School there are some verses with the theme of morning, God, paradise human and pandemonium and they are changing at the same time of sunset and sunrise in the Eastern and western sides. Besides, progression process of human is obvious in this orientation of the cornices. Furthermore, educational-devotional application of these three buildings has increased the conceptual relationship of the cornices in the sides of these buildings. In Moshir-ol-Molk mosque we can see the cornices of Shams verse on the Northern and light side of the building and 35th verse of Noor verse on the Eastern side. In Nasir-ol-Molk mosque the verses of Shams verse and its refulgence is seen on the Eastern side of the building which the sun raises there also verses of Aa’la verse with the theme of praying God and the creation of plants by God is written on the Western side which faced to the Sun in the morning.
 
Conclusion
Investigating the internal cornices of these three above-mentioned buildings indicates that in all three buildings there are some cornices with the theme of sun, light, morning, resurrection and night based on the orientation of the sun from the east to the west. This is why the verse of Noor in Qoran, Zoha, Fajr, Lail and Ghiyamat are written on the sides faced to the sunrise i.e. western side and the side which is back to the sunrise and faced to the sunset i.e. eastern side. This proves that their creator was aware and had knowledge about the verses and they are chosen based on their deduced meaning. Moreover, it shows that the role of clergymen has been very important in building these structures. By this, we can say that there are some the conceptual relationship between selecting a text and the theme of the cornices in different parts of the building about studying their body, with the aim of placing the architectural elements such as verandas, buildings and etc. and their creator deliberately had chosen and installed the signs of this prays in pre-determined places based on their roots and concepts.