Monarjonban is truly one of the most fascinating monuments of Isfahan and Iran. The architectural style of the building is Mongolian and it consists of a courtyard, a porch and two minarets.
The highlight of the architecture of this beautiful monument is the existence of the same intensifying physical phenomenon as ‘resonance’, namely the transfer of power from the minaret to the entire building.
But the question may have been in minds is; why this building that has been shaken for centuries is not destroyed yet, it hasn’t even lost a single one of its bricks.
Investigations have revealed that the most important reason for this characteristic which saves Monarjonban from destruction is the presence of two deep grooves in the building, these two gaps are next to the minarets.
Folklore says that such a groove will allow the building to have space to move and not fall. In addition to shaking the minarets, another noteworthy characteristic about the monolingual building is its beautiful tiles. Star-shaped tiles that have a turquoise color have doubled the beauty of the Monarjonban. The precision and finesse effort of the tile artists’ work is perfectly done on these small, artistically tiles.
A guide to visit Monarjonban
At the entrance of Monarjonban Building a banner is attached to a wall that briefly introduces Monarjonban. In this section we mention the full text without distorting the Monarjonban guide: One of the most valuable and unique monuments in Isfahan, Is the Monarjonban monument. The construction of this valuable monument is from the Ilkhani era in the time of Uljanio, who was one of the rulers of the Mongol Ilkhan. The only date mentioned in this building dates back to the year seven hundred and sixteen AH, which was installed under the building and above the tomb. Monarjonban consists of a porch with two minarets and a courtyard around it, Monarjonban were built on the tomb of one of the 7th-century AH man’s named Amo Abdullah Karladi. The style of the porch is Mongolian, and the turquoise tile adorns the four-pointed star around the porch. One of the hallmarks of this building is its minarets that are capable of moving so that one shakes another. They move and then transfer this movement to the entire roof. With this resonance all building shows a sort of vibration. The height of the minarets are eighteen meters.
Using lightweight building materials in the upper part of Monarjonban results in low weight of minarets. The distance between each minaret and the wooden coils used in the upper side of minarets, and a physical phenomenon called resonance are an important factor in moving minarets. The site of the Monarjonban monument has been built on the old public cemetery and some of the tombs are still visible.
The reason for making this structure is very interesting. Sultan IlKhani was very afraid of earthquakes, so he ordered the most prominent Isfahan architects to design a building that was resistant to the most tremendous earthquakes, and it turned out that the minstrels still had a high share of wonder out of understanding this monument among the architects. During the Qajar era, the French were allowed access to the minarets and thought they were destroying and manipulating one of the minarets to understand it better. They thought the movement is because of a metal spring hidden in the building. After the failure of their theory, the clay bricks could no longer fit the minaret in its proper place.
The reason for the minarets movement
Contrary to what people and audiences first hear about this monument, this building not only shakes its minarets but also shakes the whole building. The cause of the shaking of the monolingual building is the phenomenon of resonance. To simply put it to word we can say that; the molecules of everything are moving all the time, some has more and some has less vibration. You only need to just give it a shake and force them to move more. By shaking a minaret, another minaret, which is quite similar to another, moves, and the force on one minaret is distributed throughout the building and shakes the whole building.
The presence of lightweight building materials in the upper part of the building, the low weight of the minarets, the distance between each minaret and the building, the wood carvings used in the upper and lower part of each minaret to match the minaret are characteristics that helps this building shakes stands for many years.
It is difficult to see the vibration of all parts of the building, and only the movement of the minarets is easy to see. Architectures have been installed bells on each part of building that clearly shows the movement. For this reason, there is no more doubt that the whole building is truly moving. They have taken action to solve the problem and they have put signs and bells at various locations of Monarjonban to make it easier for visitors to understand buildings vibration.
Kianpour boutique hotel is 9.5 km away from this monument and its surranding traditional houses in Isfahan. You can call for a cab from our luxury house accommodation in Isfahan, use bus or choose other types of public transportation in order to get there
