A critical review towards the conception of the "Razi Style" according to the architectural analyze of Tomb and Dome Chamber in Seljuk architecture

Around the controversial subject of Seljuq architecture in Iran, the dominion of such a style in Islamic architecture, not only following the stereotype of "Razi Style"; which was proposed by Prinya, but also includes various irrelevant architectural axis. Further, considering various schools in Islamic architecture like Khurasani, Razi, Azari, and Isfahani, does not match the existence architectural specimens. Although in his book titled “The Architecture of Islamic Iran: The Seljuk Period”, G. Hatam, tried to develop a new attitude towards Seljuk architecture in Iran, his conclusion was a reflection of previous studies in another language, focusing on describing plans and decorations; while, the architectural revolutions of structural developments were not considered. On the other hand, Hillenbrand’s classification of tower tombs and dome chamber do not suffice to clarify tangible boundaries between different regions of Iran. By analyzing architectural revolutions of Iran after Arab invaders, it can be concluded that the political stability was one of the main factors of Seljuq dominion in which for the first time after Sassanid extinction, art and architecture had reached to considerable success. Although Seljuq architecture in Iran has been assumed as a follower of Sassanid architecture style, but the formation of Seljuq dynasty in Northeast Iran territories, the gradual transition of monarchy to west and the selection of Isfahan, as the last powerful capital of Iran during 5th and 6th centuries caused distinguish architectural movements in various parts of Iran which clarifying distinctive feature of that has always been underestimated. According to the historical context, Seljuks were the first dynasty which had expanded their boundaries through Minor Asia and Anatolia for the first time. Hence, by the first half of 11th century, an unprecedented wave of Turkic groups turned to the Northwestern Iran near the Byzantine borders. In other words, the domination of Byzantine world and conquering Anatolians were not possible without having this point of Iran. It's not exaggeration if we consider here (Azerbaijan) as the collection of tombs; since, here is the frontier of Sunnis Muslim to meet the non-Muslim region Anatolia, where conflicts were in its peak. Hence, Azerbaijan was the garrison of Muslims and the presence of memorial buildings was for commemorating the ones killed in “Jihad” (The Holy War) to motivate the others to get involved in the war. So, a building as a mausoleum must be the best reflection of this desire. In this way, the distribution of tombs is considerably prominent from Northeast to the Northwest of Iran. If we titled the Northeast-Northwest axis as the axis of “Military Affairs” of Seljuk court with its powerful architecture focused on the tombs, central Iran would be the “political-religious” axis of Seljuk. Undoubtedly, the high security level of central Iran and the position of populated political cities like Isfahan, the construction of mosques, especially dome chamber shaped the framework of religious architecture there. According to the results, authors have proposed two distinguishable axes for the structure of the domes during Seljuk era. One starts from the most northeastern point of Iran and ends to the most northwestern point of Iran. Emphasizing on double layer domes with conical and pyramid shape and pointed domes in the structures like Lajim Tower, Resget Tower, Chehel Dokhtaran Tower, Radkan Tower in northeastern Iran and Mumina Khatun, Yusif-ibn-Gosair and Gonbad-e-Surkh in northwestern Iran. the outer layer of the latter has reached its maximum height to preserve the structure against its pulverous climate, guarantying the stability of the structure by channeling the forces in a more vertical angle. This axis is in connection with the other one where it starts from Kharragan’s towers and continues its direction to the central Iran in the structures. The character of this axis mainly includes double shield pointed domes whose interval is not considerable compared with the northeast-northwest axis. one important fact about northwestern Iran′s Seljuk structure is the technique of strengthening the join point where two walls meet. Taking the advantages of circular buttresses where tension could damage the whole structure gives one important character to these buildings i.e. the possibility of higher structures by decreasing the width of the wall.     Considering climatic variations, technical characteristics of different areas as well as the architectural necessities depended on social-political conditions, two different axis including Northeast-Northwest axis with the centrality of Tomb and the central axis which is the “political-religious” axis of Seljuk's emphasizing on dome chamber, would deform the stereotype of "Razi Architectural style" in Iran. From this point of view, spotlighting the architectural technology of Tombs and dome chamber during Seljuk period in Iran would reviews the unity of Seljuk architecture and shed new lights towards Iranian architecture. Since there has been no critical review about what is known as "The Iranian Stylistics of Architecture" which is proposed half a century before by Pirniya, this project would be the pioneer in this filed.