Historical GIS: An Ayvān-based Typology of Iranian Historical Mosques

The difficulties of research on ayvān stem from terminological differences in historical texts and what contemporary historians meant by the term, ambiguities about the origins of this element, as well as etymological ambiguities about the term itself, and the ayvān’s wide varieties. Despite all that, it is known for sure that this element is of historical importance. It is necessary, therefore, to conduct a multifaceted research to shed light on various, complicated aspects of the ayvān. The present research is on the typology of Iranian historic mosques based on their ayvāns. These ayvāns are assessed through four aspects: the number of ayvāns, their form, their function and their position. Each aspect can result in a certain classification, with a typology emerging from a study of 952 historic Iranian mosques and the presence or otherwise of each aspect. Furthermore, typological data are inspected using geographical coordinations of each mosque through GIS, in order to map the distribution, density, and location of each type through a place-bound analysis. The findings show that over 60% of historic Iranian mosques are ayvān-less, with 23% having a single ayvān, 8.1% two, 1.6% three and 4.5% four ayvāns. The majority of double-ayvān mosques are in Khorasan and the majority quadruple-ayvān mosques are in Isfahan.