An Investigation and Explanation of Space Organization Effect on the Creation of Architectural Patterns of Qajar Era Mosque – Schools in Tabriz

After the advent of Islam, new religious advice based on thinking, reasoning and learning, along with worshiping God, was formed to develop human knowledge and increase knowledge. During this period, the importance of learning and education reached such an extent that the space of mosques, as the main and central place of worship, was also used for education. The encouragement of Islam to acquire knowledge and cognition led to the emergence of circles and gatherings of lessons and discussions in this holy place. Thus, with the increase in the need for teaching and learning space, little by little, religious schools along with mosques were established and underwent changes in different periods.

This type of space, in different periods of the history of Iranian architecture to the present day, has continued its life and activities and has provided various dimensions of human needs in accordance with the matter of education and learning.

So it can be said one of the most important types of buildings in the Islamic period in Iran are schools, traditional ones. Formation and usage of this spatial type began by establishing buildings from Saljūqee era by the means of Nezamiyehs. This spatial types processed their completion stages and developed and prospered as mosque – schools in Gajar era. From the ending days of this period, by the entering of modernization to Iran and also by the evolution of education, using of this types of architectural spaces was limited and after that, modern schools established with new forms and structures.

Considering the mosque schools’ characters and qualities and also their forms, functions and concepts led us to do this article. So in the study of Tabriz city Gajar mosque schools which had not been studied much before, it was tried to analyze and introduce them completely in the most important evolution period in Iran. So In this research, which has been done by descriptive-analytical and historical methods and by using library and field studies, the characteristics of Tabriz mosque schools in the Qajar period have been studied and also analyzed and compared with the characteristics and innovations of other school mosques in different regions.

The investigations of literature reviews reveals the architectural patterns of the schools of this period which have been mentioned by other researchers. All these have been done to answer the main research question about the structure and features of space, as well as the effects of the type of organization of spaces in the creation of patterns.

The results of studies show that despite the similarities in the main features and characteristics of the space, the school mosques of Tabriz city is fundamentally different from what is described as the characteristics of the school mosque patterns of this period in other areas and regions. Conclusions and results show that the architects have tried to Utilizing the main spatial features and characteristics , by making changes in other areas patterns, and at the same time they effort to give the best and most appropriate response to environmental conditions, including the climatic conditions of the region.