History of Mentalities in Iranian Architecture: Subjects, Methods and References

‌In the history of Iranian architecture, different aspects of popular architecture are less known. Common people have been living in the buildings with significant architecture and had different mentalities towards them. They also had various opinions and beliefs about the profession of architecture itself, design and construction process, the architects and patrons. People's mentalities have produced a context for creating their buildings and also have affected elite's architecture. Nevertheless this issue was not well known until present times. History of mentalities as an embranchment of cultural history was proposed by historians with regard to considerations of the people of the past toward different phenomena. We may use this historiographical approach in Iranian architecture studies for understanding people's mentality toward different meanings of architecture. Despite the physical aspects of the elite buildings, formal thoughts and philosophical theories, this approach focuses on collective imaginations and opinions of architecture. From this perspective, outstanding buildings are not prior to common ones. And all architectural works, regardless of value judgments, are products of public choices. These choices are on the other hand created on the basis of people's mentality. History of mentalities in Iranian architecture, considers the continuing process of common architectural mentalities, instead of pursuing political bases for architectural alterations. This approach to mentality study uses different interdisciplinary methods of humanities. Subjects like individuals mentality toward private architecture and their imagination about prosperity are considered in this approach. History of mentalities in Iranian architecture in studying subjects like this, utilizes all historical references, however some may be considered more significant for the historians. This essay will study main concepts, common methods, subjects and some instances and important references regarding the history of the mentalities in the Iranian architecture.