Angoorestan Malek

Angoorestan Malek

• History of Angoorestan Malek
• Architecture of Malek Vineyard
• Inner Courtyard
• The Summer Palace or Hall

Angoorestan Malek, or more precisely Angoorestan Malek al-Tojar, is one of the most beautiful historical houses in Isfahan. Despite its historical stories, eye-catching beauty, and various uses throughout history and in the present day, this very beautiful building is still unknown to many.

History of Angoorestan Malek

Angoorestan Malek was one of the few palaces and mansions that were spared from the tyranny and destruction of Zil al-Sultan. Zil al-Sultan was the eldest son of Nasser al-Din Shah, who, despite being older than Muzaffar al-Din Shah, did not inherit his father's throne because his mother was not a Qajar.

It is worth noting that the map of Angoorestan Malek initially shows a mansion with an area of ​​7,000 meters. Unfortunately, over time, 3,000 meters of it were destroyed under the pretext of widening Malek Street in 1333. Therefore, it became a mansion. But who is the owner and builder of this very beautiful mansion? There is still no consensus about Angoorestan Malek and its history. Some believe that it was the ancestor of the esteemed master Elahi Qomshehi, Hajj Malek, who dedicated this building according to his will. Others believe that this garden was used to collect taxes from the people. The third group believes that both of these cases are true and only occurred at different times. Therefore, the name Angooristan Malek al-Tojar is taken from Hajj Mohammad Ibrahim Khan, nicknamed Malek al-Tojar. This person was responsible for financial matters and tribute in Isfahan during the time of Nasser al-Din Shah. According to documents, after its construction, this very beautiful building was the place to hold wedding celebrations for families who had little financial means. This practice continued even after Malek al-Tojar's death, but it stopped after the revolution. Now it is a place for mourning. It is also worth knowing that historians speculate that the architect of the Malek Vineyard was Master Hussein Chi, although there is no specific information.

Architecture of Malek Vineyard

According to the plan of Malek Vineyard, the parts of this extraordinary mansion garden include the outer and inner courtyards, summer and winter residences, the pond, Zahra Khanum's room, the basement, the dining room, the tomb, etc. If you look carefully at all these parts, stucco, mirror work, and tile work are common to all of them. The columns also have very beautiful decorations from below. The different parts of the architecture and plan of Malek Tojar's Vineyard are as follows:

Inner Courtyard

The inner courtyard with its large pond and garden full of plane and mulberry trees cooled the air of the entire house. Later, the courtyard of this mansion was modified by Malek Tojar and was covered to prepare it for holding celebrations and weddings. The upper floor, known as the moon or ghulam gerde, was reserved for women to sit.

The ceiling of the inner courtyard of Angoorest-e-Malek is made of wood and decorated with decorations known as lambeh kobi. The surrounding area is also decorated with poems by Mohtasham Kashani (What a rebellion…), which indicates its current use, the Hosseiniyeh. The capitals of the inner courtyard are adorned with mogharnas, which are the symbols of the Thirty-Three Bridges. They even used green-blue as a symbol of the Zayandeh River. The lights in front of the door are called lanterns, which used oil to light the wick.

The winter residence of the Angoorest-e-Malek is designed in the northern part as a five-door room. The reason for this is that Isfahan is a desert region and the northern location of the room helped it to find good warmth in the winter with excellent lighting. With its incredibly beautiful decorations, we realize that it was also used for receiving guests of the merchant's house.

The Summer Palace or Hall

The Summer Palace of the Angoorestan Malek House is located in the middle of the garden with very beautiful sashes. A sash is a window decorated with Chinese knots, which mainly has windows with colored glass. The sashes, with their colored windows, remind us of the different seasons of the year, adjust the light and hide the interior space from the outside. This type of window opens and closes vertically, and their color repels annoying insects.

In the courtyard of Angoorestan Malek, we see 4 rooms located in the upper corner. These rooms are called earrings. The other two rooms were known as the bride and groom's room. In the Summer Palace, there are various tables and chairs for low-ranking and high-ranking people. The tables and chairs are French, and the chandeliers are Italian in origin, adorned with the lion and sun emblem.

The summer palace of the vineyard is divided into two parts by two wooden barriers, to accommodate two groups of people. The servants, upon entering these wooden barriers, were reminded in their minds that they should bow to the guests.