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Was There Ever an Arch in the So-Called Ark-e-Alishah?

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Abstract

The main challenge of any structure is to withstand the thrust during and after construction process. The architectural remnants of the so-called structure of Ark-e-Alishah in Tabriz; Northwest Iran, was for a long time considered the last of a sequence of the large-scale monumental structures, with its hypothesized 29 m diameter arch being the most magnificent made in the Islamic World during Ilkhanid era (1256–1353 CE). Despite this, being likely beyond the theoretical maximum size for this type of construction, this (hypothetical) arch has been identified by more than half a century’s studies of historic architecture, archaeological investigation, as well as in travel reports from later times as being the Great Ali-Shah Mosque. Based on this pre-assumption, it was proposed to build a U-shape structure, including roughly 11-m thickness for its walls; the hope would be to clarify the structural limitations of this building in terms of stability, durability, vulnerability and the impossibility of creating any type of arch or vault in the mentioned span and to shed new light on the incompatibly of the current structure with preexisting results. Contrarily to the historic reports, finite element method was employed as a means to get a better understanding of the essential requisites of this building to remain in equilibrium. The results highlight a paradox of historical engineering, that the tension result of loading due to any kind of vault would exceed the structural standards of buckling failure, causing gross deformation and fracture of vertical units under various loading conditions. From this point of view, there has never been any kind of arch nor vault in this building at anytime. In other words, what is known as today’s remnants of the so-called Ark-e-Alishah is in the complete contradiction with what is known as the medieval Ali-Shah Mosque, including a great vaulted span.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cultural Heritage and Tourism Research Institute, Opposite Iran National Museum, 30 Tir St. Imam Khomeini Avenue, Tehran, Iran

    Amin Moradi

  2. Tabriz University of Art, Hakim Nezami Square, Azadi St, Tabriz, East Azerbaijan, Iran

    Mansour Houseinpour Mizab

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  1. Amin Moradi
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  2. Mansour Houseinpour Mizab
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Correspondence to Amin Moradi.

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Moradi, A., Mizab, M.H. Was There Ever an Arch in the So-Called Ark-e-Alishah?. Nexus Netw J 22, 329–348 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00004-019-00460-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00004-019-00460-5

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