A renewed approach to conservation policy of historical gardens in Iran

Abstract

In Iran, due to political and economic challenges, historical gardens are not celebrated as an important part of the country’s heritage. The issue of garden conservation is widely neglected, and up to now, there has been no record of its own history. This paper retrospectively re-examines the changes in the perception of cultural heritage through the lens of historical gardens in twentieth-century Iran. The data have been collected from unexamined and much-overlooked primary resources such as memos and letters that are rarely interpreted in the context of garden history. Through a critical review of the stories of the historical gardens in each political era in chronological order, this paper offers new insights and understandings of garden treatment in Iran, to better inform policy-makers regarding their conservation in contemporary times.