Isfahan Urban History Project

Lisa Golombek, Isfahan Urban History Project research team head and Curator Emerita of the Royal Ontario Museum, received her PhD in Islamic Art from the University of Michigan in 1968. She has published forty-five works in over one hundred publications, on topics concerning Persian art, architecture, and culture. Dr. Golombek’s research has taken her across the Middle East and Central Asia, where she has focused extensively on Timurid architecture and ceramics. Among her most widely held works are The Timurid architecture of Iran and Turan (1988) and the product of her dissertation, The Timurid Shrine at Gazur Gah (1969). Preceding the 1974 fieldwork in Isfahan, Dr. Golombek conducted preliminary research in the city in 1966.

Renata Holod, research team member and surveyor, is the Curator of the Near East section of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, where she is also a professor of the History of Art in the greater University’s School of Arts and Sciences. Holod received a PhD in Fine Arts from Harvard University and has published thirty-nine works in over one hundred publications on topics of architecture in the Islamic world, particularly in Iran, Syria, Turkey, Tunisia and Morocco. Holod has also served as a convenor, steering committee member, and Master Jury Chair of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.

As chief technician of the West Asian Department of the Royal Ontario Museum, Claus Breede, research team member and draftsman, worked on a number of field expeditions and architectural projects as artist, supervisor and photographer. Excavations included work in Belize, the Virgin Islands, Northern Ontario, Egypt, and Iran. Breede also served as Director of the Bruce County Museum while founding the Canadian Cultural Resource Consultants, Inc., before continuing museological work as curator of The Royal Canadian Regiment Museum.

A student of Holod’s, Juliette Yaghubi-Nassab, served as Isfahan Urban History Project archivist during the 1976 fieldwork.

The Isfahan Urban History Project was conceived of in response to the studies presented at the Isfahan Colloquium held at Harvard in 1974. Its initial objective was to reconstitute the urban landscape of Isfahan prior to structural changes instituted under Shah Abbas at the end of the 16th century. Corroborating textual sources, like the writings of local historians, geographers and travelers, with the observations of extensive field surveys, the Isfahan Urban History Project (also referred to as the Isfahan City Project), aimed to develop a context for urban transformation between Pre-Safavid and Safavid Isfahan. Resources essential to the project included Chardin’s Voyages de chevalier Chardin en Perse et autres lieux de l’Orient, and a copy of a 1924 Sultan Seyyed Reza Khan Isfahan map, reflecting the city prior to major modernization efforts. Funding for the field work was provided by the Royal Ontario Museum. Following field work, research was integrated into a related computer program project, as well as subsequent publications and lectures.

Sources, and for Further Reading:

Chardin, J., Voyages de chevalier Chardin en Perse et autres lieux de l’Orient, Paris ed, Langles 1811.

Falahat, Somaiyeh. 2013. Re-imaging the city: a new conceptualisation of the urban logic of the "Islamic city".

Golombek, Lisa."Urban Patterns in Pre-Safavid Isfahan," Iranian Studies, Vol. 7, No. 1/2, Studies on Isfahan: Proceedings of the Isfahan Colloquium, Part I (Winter-Spring 1974) pp 18-44.

Golombek, Lisa. "Anatomy of a mosque - the Masjid-i Shah of Isfahan." In Iranian civilization and culture. Ed. Charles J. Adams, 5-14. Montreal: McGill University, Institute of Islamic Studies, 1973.

Isfahan Colloquium, and Renata Holod. 1974. Studies on Isfahan: proceedings of the Isfahan Colloquium sponsored by the Fogg Museum of Art, held at Harvard University, January 21-24, 1974. [Chestnut Hill, Mass.]: [Society for Iranian Studies].