The historic Khaju bridge over the Zayanderud river in Isfahan, Iran
Wikipedia: The Khaju Bridge (Persian: پل خواجو, Pol-e Xāju) is one of the historical bridges on the Zayanderud, the largest river of the Iranian Plateau, in Isfahan, Iran. Serving as both a bridge and a weir, it links the Khaju quarter on the north bank with the Zoroastrian quarter across the Zayanderud. It also served a primary function as a building[1] and a place for public meetings. It has been described as the city's finest bridge.[2] The other names of Khaju Bridge are: Shah Bridge, Baba Roknoddin, Hasan Abad, Shahi and reason for naming this bridge is that it is located in Khaju neighborhood of Isfahan. It should also be noted that Khaju is a distortion of the word eunuch (Khajeh), which is due to respect for the eunuches of the Safavid era. Khaju Bridge is built at the end of Kamal Ismail Street in Isfahan. The mausoleum of Arthur Pope and his wife Phyllis Ackerman is situated nearby. The Khaju Bridge was built around 1650, under the reign of Abbas II, the seventh Safavid king (shah) of Iran, on the foundations of an older bridge. The existing inscriptions suggest that the bridge was repaired in 1873. There is a pavilion located in the center of the structure, inside which Abbas II would have once sat, admiring the view. Today, remnants of a stone seat is all that is left of the king's chair. In words of Arthur Pope and Jean Chardin, Khaju is "the culminating monument of Persian bridge architecture and one of the most interesting bridges extant ... where the whole has rhythm and dignity and combines in the happiest consistency, utility, beauty, and recreation." The poets of Isfahan wrote beautiful poems on the Khajoo bridge and in these poems they praised its beauties. Among these poems is the long poem by Saeb Tabrizi which describes one of the days of celebration and illumination next to this bridge. According to historians and scholars who have studied the Safavid dynasty, Shah Abbas II's goal in building the Khajoo Bridge was to connec
Size: 7074px × 4721px
Location: Isfahan, Iran
Photo credit: © Bert de Ruiter / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 2, abbas, ancient, architecture, archways, bert, bridge, de, esfahan, gates, historic, historical, horizontal, iran, iranian, isfahan, islam, islamic, khajoo, khaju, landscape, pavilion, period, pol-, river, ruiter, safavid, shah, sluice, structure, travel, water, zayandeh, zayanderud, āju
