Reflections on the Structures and Developments of the Architecture of the Monastery and the Tomb of Sheikh Shahab Al-Din Ahri in the Sixth to Eleventh Centuries A. H.

In various periods after the Islamic Revolution of Iran, a special group of tomb buildings was formed in the field of territorial architecture, which is of special importance in the history of architecture. Sheikh Shahab-ud-Din Mahmoud Ahari’s collection is one of these religious buildings with a religious background, which is one of the valuable works of Iranian Islamic architecture, a remarkable example in the region of Azerbaijan and the city of Ahar. Sheikh Shahab’s building in his body includes spaces such as a monastery, a congregation, a mosque, a cemetery, a school, etc., which have been created over time and in different periods. However, due to the lack of sufficient studies in the field of architecture and construction courses, it has remained unknown. Based on this, the forthcoming research has been formed with a consolidated and descriptive-historical approach in order to know the different aspects of architecture and the course of additions and construction periods of this complex. In this regard, in order to gain knowledge in the field of architectural quality of the building, first with a careful look at the constituent elements, a field study was conducted throughout the work and then with the approach of recognizing written documents, time belonging to the body and construction periods. Took. As a result of the research, it was found that the quality of architecture and its related arrays in the complex corresponds to the views of Iranian-Islamic Iranian architecture in the Azerbaijan region. Together with the dependent and attached cells, it was created in the surrounding area at the end of the sixth century to the first half of the 11^th century AH, and finally became a two-porch and extroverted building. On this basis, the collection of Sheikh Shahab al-Din Ahri is a multi-purpose foundation whose organizational cohesion and physical integrity is an image of the high architectural thought of the mentioned eras.
Keywords: Sheikh Shahab-Al-Din Ahri, Tomb Collection, Architectural Developments, Physical Cognition, Construction Courses.
Introduction
In the course of the development of Iranian Islamic architecture and formed among urban and public complexes, the category of buildings was also artificial, the basis of their development was based on the existence of a significant person’s burial ground from religious currents. That is to say, the foundation of their formation was a tomb, to which other side buildings were added at the same time or in later periods. However, the formation process of these collections has not been uniform and has had many ups and downs during different periods. However, from the late Seljuk period and later, especially during the patriarchal period, due to the change in the religion of the Mongol sultans in direct contact with Sufi currents as well as the Timurid period, extensive developments in the field of burial tradition occurred in scientific-religious collections (Hosseini, 2009: 17). Sheikh Shahab Complex, with the function of a teacher and monastery; This work is an interesting example due to the inclusion of the structures of different periods of Iranian architecture and the special historical features and unique archetypes in architectural decorations. However, the lack of sufficient knowledge in the field of architectural structure, as well as the time ambiguities of the formation of its constituent parts, do not allow the correct understanding of the building. Based on this, the present article intends to present a scientific discourse in the field of recognizing architectural qualities and explaining the evolution of construction periods of Sheikh Shahab complex in the period from the end of the sixth century AH to the first half of the 11th century AH. Because the development of the collection has been done after the initial foundations, without a pre-planned plan, but it has happened in such a way that for the course of structural development in its various parts, a physical or mental barrier indicates the formal dependence of the collection on an experience. Special architectural; not found. The questions in this article are as follows: 1). Based on the architectural structure, Sheikh Shahab al-Din’s collection is among the works of which period? 2). What is the architectural quality of the complex, how it is built and its technical values? The method used in this paper is qualitative, which is based on a consolidated and specifically descriptive-historical approach based on library studies and field surveys. For this purpose, the field study of the building and the study of written sources related to the subject of research and analysis of architectural spaces and the physical form of the constructed sections, in order to identify the architectural features and developmental periods of the building was something that should have been done first. In the meantime, during the speculations and repairs of recent years, as well as the review of the most recent visual documents of the complex and its surroundings, new structure and angles of the building and its additional appendices were revealed, which were hidden from view as a result of previous interventions. . In this way, he was able to shed light on parts of the architectural structure and its timeliness in the collection. In the present study, an attempt has been made to investigate the approach of recognizing written documents, objective observations and combining new archaeological data, architectural qualities of spatial elements and physical timeliness of the work and more comprehensive analysis than the only research conducted so far this year. 2013 to be presented in the field of physical changes. Therefore, based on what was mentioned, in the first stage of the present study, after examining the background, the history of Ahar city and the location of Sheikh Shahab complex in it have been read. In the second stage, recognizing the architectural qualities of various parts of the work as crystallization of the effects of the needs of society on its physical events was considered. In the last stage, by summarizing the new information obtained from excavations and follow-ups and adapting it to written historical documents and existing signs, the evolution of construction courses along the Azeri to Isfahani style was analyzed and examined.
 
Article text
Sheikh Shahab-Al-Din Ahari Complex, located in the southeast-northwestern direction, is surrounded by a brick fence measuring approximately 310 meters (north-south) * 280 meters (east-west). The building has two porches and is extroverted, and in the exterior, in addition to creating applications in the north porch and the north, south and west entrances of the courtyard, most of the building is decorated with depressions and protrusions. At present, from a construction point of view, it has a domed space with a single-domed dome in the octagonal area, which is remarkable in terms of architectural proportions. ‌ Residential buildings in the southern part and Sheikh Shahab’s tomb are in the courtyard of the complex and inside the stone stone fence. Its main entrance is on the north porch (east side) and the other on the east side (east porch) and the south side (south entrance). Among the irreplaceable decorations of the complex, you can also see a stone mosque with a row lined around the tomb, the bedding related to the altar of the mosque, the uses around the courtyard and the north porch, the tiles in the door. The turquoise background on the north side, most of which is now extinct, is the knot in the body of the Khaneghah Mosque and the manuscripts of various eras in the mosque and the Khaneghah. Although most scholars have considered this work to belong to the early Safavid era, there are serious differences of opinion regarding the exact date of construction of some parts of the building. The French architect and researcher Andre Godard considered the construction of the complex to be early Safavid, and later confirmed the late Dibaj, Carnegie, and Torabi Tabatabai. Analysis of the collection’s restoration reports from 1345 to 1390, archaeological findings, research on the references of credible historical and contemporary sources, indicating the gradual construction of the complex in the late sixth to mid-eleventh century AH in Atkhar Ilkhani It has Safavids.
 
Conclusion
In this research, from the perspective of recognizing different aspects of architecture and the course of additions and construction periods in the process of physical development of Sheikh Shahab al-Din Ahari collection, it was discussed and determined. Examining the content of historical texts, inferring from the methods of space formation in the architecture of the Islamic period of Iran and public benefit collections and analyzing the spatial architecture of the works left in the building, indicating the creation of collections influenced by rituals and values. It was the profession of Sufism that emerged in the form of a monastery and after the death of the sheikh, for reasons such as honoring his mystical status, caused the formation of a tomb space. In reviewing the developments of the complex, two different areas have been used: collecting historical information and studying the physical structure of the complex and the surrounding area. During the studies, it was determined that the building was not designed in advance and most of the changes were due to the continuous operation of various buildings. Based on the findings and contrary to the beliefs of some sources, who have attributed the history of the construction of this complex to the Safavid era, with the analyzes performed on the body, the Azeri architectural style and in the transition from it, the Isfahani method was updated.