Chahar Bagh Gardens
" a Persian-style garden layout. The quadrilateral garden is divided by walkways or flowing water into four smaller parts In Persian, "Chār" means 'four' and "bāgh" means 'garden'." See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charbagh.
Connected Sites
| Site | Rationale | Link |
| Arab-Norman Palermo | hybrid form | |
| Fatehpur Sikri | "Hawa Mahal, the Palace of Winds. This small-screened wind tower faces the garden and is attached to the palace. The garden is laid out in the Char Bagh style with straight walls intersecting at right angles and divided by shallow channels." | |
| Fort and Shalamar Gardens | "Shalimar Gardens constructed by his great grandson, the aristocratic Shah Jahan, is the epitome of Mughal garden design, incorporating the paradisical chahar bagh, nahr (water channels), waterfalls and tanks, along with terracing and beautiful pavilions, creating a world of its own within its lofty enclosing walls." | |
| Golestan Palace | Designed in 16th C with Chahar Bagh features. These were significantly altered during the 19th C but the Nom file still claims that the gardens maintain their "Iranian ambiance" (Nom File) | |
| Granada | "As a garden (Bagh), the more characteristic one is the Court of the Lions, where the water basin sustained by twelve sculptures of lion sends up a jet. It is encircled with cloisters, from which two pavilions project to the patio, and the channels flow out from the cardinal point rooms to come together to the central fountain, so as to divide the rectangular garden into four-quarters. That is exactly the quadripartite garden (Chahar Bagh) constituting the basic principle of Islamic gardens." | |
| Hill Forts of Rajasthan | Amber Palace "The garden, located between the Jai Mandir on the east and the Sukh Niwas on the west, both built on high platforms in the third courtyard, was built by Mirza Raja Jai Singh (1623–68). It is patterned on the lines of the Chahar Bagh or Mughal Garden. It is in sunken bed, shaped in a hexagonal design. It is laid out with narrow channels lined with marble around a star-shaped pool with a fountain at the centre." | |
| Humayun's Tomb | Humayun's "father, Babur, is credited with having introduced the Persian Chahar Bagh to India. Humayun's garden is a geometrically perfect example of the genre but differs from Babur's gardens in having a building at its centre. This makes the garden into a setting for a building, rather than a place to be enjoyed from a pavilion. The garden symbolises the emperor's place in paradise. It was not the first example of the type, but it is the oldest to survive in good condition. The garden is divided into 36 squares by a grid of water channels and paths" | |
| Pasargadae | "The first dynastic capital of the Achaemenid Empire, founded by Cyrus II, the Great". The site includes the remains of the Royal Gardens. Criterion iv states "The ‘Four Gardens’ type of royal ensemble, which was created in Pasargadae became a prototype for Western Asian architecture and design." (The garden is also inscribed as part of the "Persian Gardens inscription) | |
| Persian Garden | All 9 gardens follow the "Chahar Bagh" lay-out. The Nomination file provides a detailed history of the concept and its religious and philosophical underpinning (E.g - "a form of garden which attempts to emulate Eden, (the four principal elements of sky, earth, water, plant) representing the world." ) | |
| Taj Mahal | "The garden that beautifies Taj comes from the Persian Timurid style of gardens, and is based on the concept of paradise garden' and was brought in by Babur. This garden, filled with flowers, fruits, birds, leaves, symmetry, and delicacy, served many functions along with portraying strong symbolic or abstract meanings about paradise. A paradise which, according to Islamic beliefs, consists of four rivers: one of water, one of milk, one of honey, and one of wine." |
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