Bagh-i Jannat, the garden in which the Spanish ambassador Don Garcia de Silva y Figueroa was received by Shah ‘Abbas on the 17 June 1618, is represented in a drawing by Pietro della Valle. The garden was thickly planted with plane trees. There was a great pond in front of a house, perhaps in the center of the garden, where a small wooden loggia was installed; this was where the king, the Spanish ambassador, and a Turkish commander (sardar) sat. All the other guests were seated around the pond. According to Figueroa, the pond measured 100 paces along each side and access to the pavilion was across a small bridge of 4 or 5 feet in length. This might be the same pond described by the poet of Shah Tahmasp, ‘Abdi Bayk Navidi (1515–1580), in the royal gardens created by Shah Tahmasp. It was to the west of the palace known as Khana-yi Shirvani, in which stood a tālār, connected by a bridge. The Khana-yi Shirvani is represented at the crossing of the axis of a garden behind the ‘Ali Qapu in a drawing by Kaempfer (see Bagh-i Sa‘adat at Qazvin).

Source: Travel Account, 1618

-Mahvash Alemi

Resources:

Kulliyāt-i Navīdī (Open in Zotero)

I giardini reali di Ashraf e Farahâbâd (Open in Zotero)

Palais et jardins: Le complexe royal des premiers Safavides à Qazvin, milieu XVIe–début XVIIe siècles (Open in Zotero)

MSS Ottoboni Latino 3382, 3383, and 3384 (Open in Zotero)

Originally published at: Alemi, Mahvash. “Bagh-i Jannat.” Middle East Garden Traditions. Dumbarton Oaks, November 18, 2014. https://www.doaks.org/resources/middle-east-garden-traditions/catalogue#b_start=0&c6=Safavid+Gardens. Archived at:https://perma.cc/H4VG-8VF7