☰Persian Gardens and Pavilions

The most readable scholarly survey of the Persian garden tradition, tracing its development from the ancient Persian paradise garden through the great Safavid royal gardens of Isfahan — including Chehel Sotoun and the now-vanished gardens that lined Chaharbagh Boulevard. Lavishly illustrated, it gives a visitor the framework to understand what they are looking at when they stand in Isfahan's surviving green spaces. The book argues convincingly that the garden — walled, watered, and intensely ordered — is the organizing metaphor of Persian civilization, and you will feel that argument confirmed everywhere in Isfahan.