Sasanian architecture

The splendour in which the Sasanian monarchs lived is well illustrated by their surviving palaces, such as those at Firouzabad and Bishapur in Fars, and the capital city of Ctesiphon in modern Iraq.

The arch of the great vaulted hall at Ctesiphon attributed to the reign of Shapur I (241–272) has a span of more than 80 ft, and reaches a height of 118 ft. from the ground.

The dome chamber in the palace of Firouzabad is the earliest surviving example of the use of the squinch and so there is good reason for regarding Persia as its place of invention.

Ardashir I and Shapur I, and their immediate successors, undoubtedly erected residences for themselves exceeding in size and richness the buildings which had contented the Parthians, as well as those in which their own ancestors, the tributary kings of Persia under Parthia, had passed their lives.

From the outer air, we look straight into the heart of the edifice, in one instance to the depth of 115 feet, a distance equal to the length of Henry VII's Chapel at Westminster.

In the mosques "lofty and deeply−recessed portals," "unrivalled for grandeur and appropriateness," are rather the rule than the exception; and, in the palaces, "Throne−rooms" are commonly mere deep recesses of this character, vaulted or supported by pillars, and open at one end to the full width and height of the apartment.

All this, however, if it existed, has disappeared; and the interiors now present a bare and naked appearance, which is only slightly relieved by the occasional occurrence of windows, of ornamental doorways, and of niches, which recall well−known features at Persepolis.

In some instances, the arrangement of the larger rooms was improved by means of short pillars, placed at some distance from the walls, and supporting a sort of transverse rib, which broke the uniformity of the roof.

The general effect of the great halls is grand, though scarcely beautiful and, in the best specimens, the entire palace has an air of simple severity which is striking and dignified.

The edifices are regarded as "indicating considerable originality and power," though they "point to a state of society when attention to security hardly allowed the architect the free exercise of the more delicate ornaments of his art".

The Sassanid architect conceived his building in terms of masses and surfaces; hence the use of massive walls of brick decorated with molded or carved stucco.

Stucco wall decorations appear at Bishapur, but better examples are preserved from Chal Tarkhan near Rayy (late Sassanid or early Islamic in date), and from Ctesiphon and Kish in Mesopotamia.

In Afghanistan at Bamian are ruins that show the great impact of Iranian art and architecture (specially from Sassanid era) from the 4th to the 8th century.

[citation needed] Frescoes and colossal Buddhas adorn Bamian's monasteries, revealing a fusion of Sassanid-Iranian and Greco-Buddhist elements.