A Hermeneutic Reading of Meaning in the Architecture of Qajar‑Period Mosques (Case Study: Nasir al‑Mulk Mosque, Shiraz)

Abstract

This article seeks to interpret and provide a hermeneutic reading of meaning in mosques of the Qajar period, with particular emphasis on the Nasir al‑Mulk Mosque. It addresses the importance of this issue by arguing that the interpretation and production of meaning—on the one hand shaped by political, social, and cultural transformations, and on the other hand by the synthesis of modernity with traditional architecture during this period—has offered a response for the continuity of the cultural and identity dimensions of this monument. The study proceeds to address the main research question: how are the layers of meaning embedded in the architectural body of the mosque continuously reproduced, through changes over time, in interaction with the audience and diverse historical and social contexts, thereby leading to the durability and continuity of its spatial meaning? The objective of the research is to examine, through a hermeneutic approach, the manner in which spatial meaning is reproduced in the Nasir al‑Mulk Mosque, and to investigate how various architectural elements—including light and color, geometry, and ornamentation—effectively influence the process of interpreting and understanding spatial meaning. Adopting a qualitative and interpretive methodology and drawing upon an integrated theoretical framework that includes phenomenology, semiotics, aesthetics, and hermeneutics, the research analyzes mosque architecture as a “spatial text.” The findings indicate that in the Nasir al‑Mulk Mosque, light and color, as primary elements of perceptual experience, function as the driving forces that activate the process of understanding. The temporality of light, the multilayered nature of signs, and the aesthetic order of space transform the spatial experience into a recurring yet continually renewed event, enabling the observer, in each encounter, to arrive at a new rereading and reconfiguration of meaning. This article concludes that the continuity of meaning does not imply the stability of a single, fixed meaning; rather, it signifies the persistence of the possibility of interpretation and the ongoing reproduction of meaning through repeated encounters.