Persian Paradise Neglected

There has been a garden at Kashan, just south of Teheran, since at least the time of the first Safavid emperor in the early 16th century. Shah Abbas, who was recently the subject of a wonderful exhibition at the British Museum, added some buildings in the early 17th century, and clearly Kashan remained a favourite place of Shah Abbas, since he chose to be buried there rather than in his new capital Esfehan; but the garden buildings we see today are largely the result of a 19th-century Qajar reconstruction.
The Bagh-e-Fin has all the elements of the classic Islamic garden: it is walled, and laid out in regular rectangular compartments; abundant water drives the fountains and fills the canals, which cross each other at right angles. There are the familiar sunken planting areas, below the level of the paths to make irrigation easier.

At the crossing of the two principal canals there is a pleasure pavilion, through which the water flows, cooling the air. And there are ancient cypress trees, celebrated in Persian poetry as the epitome of beauty, both male and female.
But today these cypresses are in a sorry state; many are dead or dying, while others have rotten limbs which must surely pose a danger to the many families who come to enjoy the garden at weekends. There is no apparent programme of tree care, and no sign of replacement trees being planted.
The same lack of attention to detail is seen in the sunken rectangles farthest away from the central canal; here there seems to be no attempt at planting. Shortage of funds cannot be at the root of the problem, since each of the many visitors pays for entrance. Why then is this great treasure of Persian garden art being so neglected?

Rory Stuart (December 2009)