The Safavid Dynastic Shrine ─ Architecture, Religion and Power in Early Modern Iran

The safavid period is in immensely rich chapter in the history of Iranian architecture. Kishwar Rizvi examines the intersection of popular piety and imperial ideology through an in-depth look at the production and patronage of the shrine of Shaykh Safi. As the former political base of the ruling dynasty, the shrine is a reservoir of insight into the cultural and religions interaction between the regional Muslim empires of the early Modern period.

From its inception as a modest Sufi lodge to its apogee as the dynastic mausoleum of the Safavid Shahs, Rizvi recounts the pivotal moments in the shrine's development as a manifestation of political authority and a centre of religious worship. The Safavid Dynastic Shrine offers a pointed analysis of the structural representation of imperial power throughout the shrine's numerous renovations. Rizvi reveals how architecture, as both symbol and artefact, was instrumental in the formation of the empire's cult of kingship that prevailed throughout the first half of the sixteenth century.

Through a detailed survey of blueprints, pilgrimage manuals and property transactions. Rizvi argues that the transformation of the Sufi institution into a regal dominion was not a simple transfer of power, but a constant negotiation between the diverse bases of clientele who paid homage to the shrine. The vast network of pilgrims and patrons, which transcended both geographical and religious divisions, demonstrates the fluid nature of the borders between neighbouring empires and challenges the traditional assumptions about the centres of power and their periphery in the early modern period. The Safavid Dynastic Shrine explores Iranian architecture not only as a monument of imperial legacy, but also as an expression of cultural diversity and aesthetic significance.

Kislwar Rizvi is Assistant Professor of Art History at Yale University. An architect and an historian, she has written on representations of religious and imperial authority in the art and architecture of Safavid Iran, as well as on issues of gender, nationalism and religious identity in modern Iran and Pakistan. She is the co-author of Modernism and the Middle East: Architecture and Politics in the Twentieth Century (2008), which was awarded a Graham Foundation grant. She has received numerous other awards, notably from the Barakat Trust, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the Carnegie Foundation.