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<A HREF = "40sotoon.gif"> <IMG SRC= "40soto16.gif" WIDTH=249 HEIGHT=175 ALIGN="LEFT" ALT="View of the Palace"></A>
<H1 ALIGN="Right">Chehel Sotoon</H1><BR><H2 ALIGN="Right">The Palace of Forty Pillars</H2>
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This great <A HREF = "../glossary/history.html#safavid">Safavid</A> Palace was one of nearly 300
built in Isfahan when it was the capital of Iran. It was largely completed under <B>Shah Abbas
II</B> (1642-1667), although work may have started on the palace as early as 1598, and is said to
derive its name from the pillars which dominate the verandah. There are twenty of these laid out in
three rows of six with two additional ones on either side of the main entrance. When these are
reflected in the water of the pool the number is made up to forty, the Farsi for which is
"<STRONG>chehel</STRONG>". However the number forty is also used to signify a large number
as in the <A HREF = "../40dokht/40dokht.html">Minaret of Chehel Dokhtaran</A>.<BR>
The magnificent <A HREF = "../glossary/eivan/talar.html">talar</A> or <A HREF =
"talar.gif">verandah</A>, is the dominant feature of the palace and the slender columns, over 40m
tall, which support it are cut from single chenar trees (<I>platanus orientalis</I>). The roof is also
made from chenar tree beams and inset with <A HREF = "roof.gif">complex decoration</A>. The
surface of much of the throne room is still covered with mirrored glass and this probably also was
used on the pillars, as it was in the palace of <A HREF = "../aliqapu/aliqapu.html">Ali Qapu</A>, so
as to give the appearance of a roof floating in the air.<BR>
<A HREF = "hayat.gif">Looking out over the pool from the Verandah</A>, one is able to appreciate
the importance attached historically by Persians to the concept of "<STRONG>talar</STRONG>"
which fulfilled their love of sitting in the garden while they were protected from the light and
heat.<BR>
Behind the verandah there is a small raised <A HREF = "throne.gif">throne room</A> which leads
into a spacious audience chamber. This is richly decorated with paintings celebrating the heyday of
the Safavid dynasty, including a particularly celbrated one of <A HREF = "tahmasb.gif">Shah
Tahmasb receiving the Mughul Emperor Homayun </A> at a banquet. There are also some paintings
of a more secular nature, depicting ladies lying in <A HREF =
"../glossary/garden/makan.html">gardens</A> and hunting scenes, although these have been badly
defaced. On the outside of the building there are some particularly interesting pictures of <A HREF =
"farangi.gif">european figures</A>, presumably based on the ambassadors and their retinue who
would have stayed in the palace from time to time.
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18-January-95
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