The Figures of Isfahan: Mohammad-Taher Vahid Qazvini

The Bridge’s Inauguration

After completing the Khajou Bridge’s construction, Shah Abbas II made Maqsoud Beyk, the court’s majordomo, responsible for decorating and illuminating the bridge.

Date: 15:57 - Sunday 2023/08/6
Reading Time: 2 min
The Bridge’s Inauguration

In his book Abbas-Nameh, Mohammad-Taher Vahid Qazvini wrote a detailed description of the structure of the Hassan-Abad Khajou Bridge in the 11th century AH.

After completing the bridge’s construction, Shah Abbas II made Maqsoud Beyk, the court’s majordomo, responsible for decorating and illuminating the bridge.

Then, each local emir became charged with the duty of decorating each arched space or room of the bridge, and the middle springs, which represent the heart in the body and the meaning in the word, were decorated on behalf of the Shah himself.

He wrote:

“The river was temporarily dammed before the bridge such that the fountain of the resulted pond rose about 3 meters high. From one to the other end of the bridge, brocade canopies were installed, and wire ropes for hanging lanterns and chandeliers were strung in different designs. Kermani and Qaeni carpets were spread everywhere. And in every chamber handsome youths, young boys from Eram Abbas-Abad, fair Indians and also beautiful tall Armenians were hosting. His majesty (the shadow of God), pleased and content, relaxed in the eastern building of the bridge until dawn, and his companions and servants and the emirs each rested in different chambers.”

Mowlana Sayra Mashhadi also composed a qasida (ode) on the occasion of the opening of the bridge.

Some couplets of it are as follows:

By the king’s decree, the skilled master / built a bridge over the Zayandeh roud

Its river floods in the spring / its waterfall rises up to the sky

A new bridge was built on the sea / bindings were put on earth’s components

By the decree of the king of seven countries / the bridge was built as tall as the sky

He desired a flower shower on the bridge / and his face was adorned by the illuminations of the bridge

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