#chehel-sotoun-palace

#chehel-sotoun-palace

After the historical Iranian city of Isfahan was targeted by several major strikes, its governor Mehdi Jamalinejad claimed that serious damage had been inflicted even after blue shields were put on the roofs of culturally important buildings. This is an internationally recognized signal under the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.

A compleat Persian Palace--there are many minor variations and lesser imitations--is distinguished by its exaggerated moldings, numberless layers of cornices, elaborate grillework and columns galore. A Persian Palace brazenly combines motifs and wantonly disregards proportion and scale.

For over 400 years, the Golestan Palace and its ornate mirror halls, lush gardens, and intricately tiled facade have stood as a testament to Persian opulence and the artistic and political heritage of Iran. The palace, originally built as part of a royal citadel in the 1500s and later renovated and expanded into a royal residence in the 18th and 19th centuries, has remained through centuries of dynastic upheavals, the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and the country's recent history.

The intervention centers on a second-floor wall inscribed with a handwritten poem by Shamlou addressed to his wife and muse, Aida. Rather than treating the inscription as a preserved artifact, the design extends this wall into a spatial and semi-structural element that organizes circulation throughout the building. Known as the 'Aida Wall,' the new structure rises from the to the , forming a three-dimensional promenade that connects interior programs and visually opens the house toward the surrounding city.

An intact mosaic from Late Antiquity discovered during restoration of a historic municipal building in Istanbul is now a floor again, covered in plexiglass and welcoming visitors to the new Zeytinburnu Mosaic Museum. Visitors of Turkey's newest museum move across elevated glass walkways, suspended right above the original floors themselves. The mosaics are not relocated fragments mounted on walls, but surfaces that remain exactly where they were first laid, preserving their context for all to see.