The Impact of Ilkhanid Religious Beliefs on 7th and 8th Century A.H. Religious Buildings

Iranian architecture underwent many changes under the influence of the Mongol invasion andtheir domination over the land of Iran. These changes are especially evident in the pre-existingreligious buildings. The changes that have taken place, sometimes have disturbed the spatialcoherence of the building so much that the relationship between the religious background of thebuilding and the physical characteristics of its builders seems to be quite confused. Therefore,the present study aims to explain the subject in two ways; First, by examining the historicaldevelopments in this period, the religious tendencies of the people and the rulers of the time wereanalyzed and the changes that have taken place in the religious buildings of this period with thechange of beliefs in the Ilkhanid rulers were investigated. In the first part, the research has beenconducted through a historical method, based on historical texts and documents. In the secondpart, six examples of the remains of buildings from the period under investigation have beenexamined. In this section, with the help of field studies, the changed components in the buildingwere identified and categorized, and how these changes became clear was stated. The presentstudy indicates that at the beginning of the 7th century AH, under the influence of the conflictsof the Shafi’i and Hanafi religions, major destruction took place in the buildings belonging tothese religions. Subsequently, with the abolition of the dominant religious tendency in the centralgovernment and the spread of the belief in Shamanism and Buddhism, such temples were built. Inthe second half of the 7th century AH, Christian and Jewish religions became more widespread dueto the will of the rulers of the time, and new religious buildings were built, and in some cases newbuildings were built on the basis of previously destroyed religious buildings. Finally, in the late 7thand early 8th centuries AH clashes between various Sunni and Shie religions have subsided, andthe construction of religious buildings became more common. The results of this research showthat just as the religious tendencies of the Ilkhanid rulers changed many times during this period,religious buildings have also undergone many changes, both in the spatial organization and in thedecorations and motifs