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56-569: The square is depicted on the reverse of the Iranian 20,000 rials banknote. Stores are owned by trust of Ostandari Isfahan . In 1598, when Abbas the Great decided to move the capital of his empire from the north-western city of Qazvin to the central city of Isfahan , he initiated what would become one of the greatest programmes in Persian history; the complete remaking of the city. By choosing

112-466: A coin's role as a medium of exchange (such as the value of the coin). Additional space typically reflects the issuing country's culture or government, or evokes some aspect of the state's territory. Regarding the euro , some confusion regarding the obverse and reverse of the euro coins exists. Officially, as agreed by the informal Economic and Finance Ministers Council of Verona in April 1996, and despite

168-535: A distinctive Islamic style , with just lettering on both sides of their coins. This script alone style then was used on nearly all Islamic coinage until the modern period. The type of Justinian II was revived after the end of the Byzantine Iconoclasm , and with variations remained the norm until the end of the Empire. Without images, therefore, it is not always easy to tell which side will be regarded as

224-468: A growing number of Europeans. Abbas brought in some 300 Chinese artisans to work in the royal workshops and to teach the art of porcelain-making. The Indians were present in very large numbers, housed in the many caravanserais that were dedicated to them, and they mainly worked as merchants and money-changers. The Europeans were there as merchants, Roman Catholic missionaries, artists and craftsmen. Even soldiers, usually with expertise in artillery, would make

280-436: A winter mosque clamped at either side of it. The architect of the mosque is Ali Akbar Isfahani . His name appears in an inscription in the mosque above the doorway of the entrance iwan complex. The inscription also mentions that the supervisor of the construction as Muhibb 'Ali Beg Lala who was also a major donor to the mosque. Another architect Badi al-zaman-i Tuni may have been involved in its early design. Because of

336-433: Is not invariably observed. The form of currency follows its function, which is to serve as a readily accepted medium of exchange of value . Normally, this function rests on a state as guarantor of the value: either as trustworthy guarantor of the kind and amount of metal in a coin , or as powerful guarantor of the continuing acceptance of token coins . Traditionally, most states have been monarchies where

392-640: The Ottomans , and at the same time gained more control over the Persian Gulf , which had recently become an important trading route for the Dutch and British East India Companies . The chief architect of this task of urban planning was Shaykh Bahai (Baha' ad-Din al-`Amili), who focused the programme on two key features of Shah Abbas's master plan: the Chahar Bagh avenue, flanked at either side by all

448-639: The Safavid Empire under the order of Abbas the Great . It is regarded as one of the masterpieces of Persian architecture in the Islamic era. The Royal Mosque is registered, along with the Naghsh-e Jahan Square , as a UNESCO World Heritage Site . Its construction began in 1611. The mosque is depicted on the reverse of the Iranian 20,000 rials banknote. It was found damaged in 2022. In 1598, when Shah Abbas decided to move

504-473: The minaret , and the Masjed-e Shah has four. Still, in Persian mosques, tall minarets were considered unsuitable for the call to prayer, and they would add an aedicule, known in Persian as a goldast (bouquet) for this particular purpose, which in the Masjed-e Shah stands on top of the west iwan. The mihrab , a large marble tablet ten feet tall and three feet wide on the southwestern wall, indicated

560-489: The Athenian coins for more than two centuries. In the many republics of ancient Greece, such as Athens or Corinth , one side of their coins would have a symbol of the state, usually their patron goddess or her symbol, which remained constant through all of the coins minted by that state, which is regarded as the obverse of those coins. The opposite side may have varied from time to time. In ancient Greek monarchical coinage,

616-490: The Dutch and British East India Companies . The chief architect of this colossal task of urban planning was Shaykh Bahai (Baha' ad-Din al-`Amili), who focused the programme on two key features of Shah Abbas's master plan: the Chahar Bagh avenue , flanked at either side by all the prominent institutions of the city, such as the residences of all foreign dignitaries, and the Naqsh-e Jahan Square (" Exemplar of

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672-651: The Naqsh-e Jahan square. The Bazaar of Isfahan is a historical market and one of the oldest and largest bazaars of the Middle East . Although the present structure dates back to the Safavid era, parts of it are more than a thousand years old, dating back to the Seljuq dynasty . It is a vaulted, two kilometer street linking the old city with the new. Obverse and reverse The obverse and reverse are

728-515: The Shah Mosque as a channel through which they could express themselves with their numerous architectural techniques. The four-iwan format , finalized by the Seljuq dynasty , and inherited by the Safavids, firmly established the courtyard facade of such mosques, with the towering gateways at every side, as more important than the actual building itself. The distinct feature of any mosque is

784-488: The Shah's desire to have the building completed during his lifetime, shortcuts were taken in the construction; for example, the Shah ignored warnings by one of the architects, Abu'l Qāsim, regarding the danger of subsidence in the foundations of the mosque, and he pressed ahead with the construction. The architect proved to be right, as in 1662 the building had to undergo major repairs. Also, many historians have wondered about

840-509: The World "). Prior to the king's ascent to power, Iran had a decentralized power-structure, in which different institutions battled for power, including both the military (the Qizilbash ) and governors of the different provinces making up the empire. Abbas wanted to undermine this political structure, and the recreation of Isfahan, as a Grand capital of Iran, was an important step in centralizing

896-434: The calligraphic Shahada on both sides. Truly two-sided flags include the flag of Paraguay and the flag of Oregon , but are otherwise rare in the modern day. Some national flag protocols include provisions for when and how the reverse should be displayed. The United States flag code states that a vertically hung flag should be displayed with the reverse side out, such that the blue canton , or "union", be visible in

952-568: The capital of his Persian empire from the northwestern city of Qazvin to the central city of Isfahan, he initiated what would become one of the greatest programmes in Persian history; the complete remaking of this ancient city. By choosing the central city of Isfahan, fertilized by the Zāyandeh River ("The life-giving river "), lying as an oasis of intense cultivation in the midst of a vast area of arid landscape, he both distanced his capital from any future assaults by Iran's neighboring arch rival,

1008-512: The central city of Isfahan, with the Zāyande roud ("The life-giving river "), lying as an oasis of intense cultivation in the midst of a vast area of arid landscape, he distanced his capital from any future assaults by the Ottomans , the arch rival of the Safavids, and the Uzbeks , and at the same time gained more control over the Persian Gulf , which had recently become an important trading route for

1064-566: The city. Reflecting the light of the Sun, these domes appeared like glittering turquoise gem and could be seen from miles away by travelers following the Silk Road through Persia. Reaching 53 meters in height, the dome of the Masjed-e Shah would become the tallest in the city when it was finished in 1629. It was built as a double-shelled dome, with 14 meters spanning between the two layers, and resting on an octagonal dome chamber. The Masjed-e Shah

1120-611: The colors at once, then fired the tile. Cheaper and quicker, the new procedure allowed a wider range of colors to be used, creating richer patterns, sweeter to the eye. According to Jean Chardin , it was the low humidity in the air in Persia that made the colors so much more vivid and the contrasts between the different patterns so much stronger than what could be achieved in Europe, where the colors of tiles turned dull and lost its appearance. Still, most contemporary and modern writers regard

1176-404: The design of the reverse. A law specific to this series and the corresponding time period permits the following: In vexillology , the obverse of a flag is the side taken as the default illustration of a flag, for example the side used to display a design in a book or other paper document. The obverse is usually assumed to be the side visible when the hoist , the edge attached to the mast , is on

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1232-418: The direction of Mecca. Above it the Shah's men had placed a gold-encrusted cupboard of allow wood. It held two relics: a Quran , said to have been copied by Imam Reza , and the bloodstained robe of Imam Hussain . Although never displayed, the robe was said to have magical powers; lifted on the end of a pike in the battle field, the belief was that it could rout an enemy. A renaissance in Persian dome building

1288-566: The entrance to the Imperial Bazaar, there were coffee-houses, where people could relax over a cup of fresh coffee and a water-pipe. These shops can still be found today, although the drink in fashion for the past century has been tea, rather than coffee. At dusk, the shop-keepers packed up, and the huzz and buzz of tradesmen and eager shoppers bargaining over the prices of goods would be given over to dervishes , mummers, jugglers, puppet-players, acrobats and prostitutes. Every now and then

1344-438: The entrance-portal of the Shah Mosque, one makes, almost without realising it, the half-right turn which enables the main court within to face Mecca.Donald Wilber gives the most plausible explanation to this; the vision of Shaykh Bahai was for the mosque to be visible wherever in the maydān a person was situated. Had the axis of the maydān coincided with the axis of Mecca, the dome of the mosque would have been concealed from view by

1400-400: The fact that a number of countries have a different design for each coin, the distinctive national side for the circulation coins is the obverse and the common European side (which includes the coin value) is the reverse . This rule does not apply to the collector coins as they do not have a common side. A number of the designs used for obverse national sides of euro coins were taken from

1456-421: The image is a single head) and, if that does not serve to distinguish them, the side that is more typical of a wide range of coins from that location will be called the obverse. Following this principle, in the most famous of ancient Greek coins , the tetradrachm of Athens, the obverse is the head of Athena and the reverse is her owl. Similar versions of these two images, both symbols of the state, were used on

1512-442: The journey from Europe to Persia to make a living. The Portuguese ambassador, De Gouvea , once stated that: “The people of Isfahan are very open in their dealings with foreigners, having to deal every day with people of several other nations.” Also, many historians have wondered about the peculiar orientation of the maidān. Unlike most buildings of importance, this square did not lie in alignment with Mecca , so that when entering

1568-481: The largest dome in the city, but Shaykh Bahai also planned the construction of a religious school and a winter-mosque clamped at either side of it. Of the four monuments that dominated the perimeter of the Naqsh-e Jahan square, the Lotfollah Mosque , opposite the palace, was the first to be built. The purpose of this mosque was for it to be a private mosque of the royal court, unlike the Masjed-e Shah, which

1624-405: The mosque displays the finest tile decoration in the building. It is entirely executed in tile mosaic in a full palette of seven colors (dark Persian blue, light Turkish blue, white, black, yellow, green and bisquit). A wide inscription band with religious texts written in white thuluth script on a dark blue ground frames the iwan. The tiles in the Masjed-e Shah are predominantly blue, except in

1680-424: The obverse and reverse of its currency. The specifications mentioned here imply the use of all upper-case letters, although they appear here in upper and lower case letters for the legibility of the article. The United States government long adhered to including all of the following: The ten-year series of Statehood quarters , whose issue began in 1999, was seen as calling for more space and more flexibility in

1736-416: The obverse and reverse sides of a flag. In fields of scholarship outside numismatics, the term front is more commonly used than obverse , while usage of reverse is widespread. The equivalent terms used in codicology , manuscript studies , print studies and publishing are "recto" and "verso" . Generally, the side of a coin with the larger-scale image will be called the obverse (especially if

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1792-656: The obverse of coins of the United Kingdom (and predecessor kingdoms going back to the Middle Ages ) almost always feature the head of the monarch. By tradition, each British monarch faces in the opposite direction of his or her predecessor; this is said to date from 1661, with Charles II turning his back on Oliver Cromwell . Hence, George VI faced left and Elizabeth II faced right. The only break in this tradition almost occurred in 1936 when Edward VIII , believing his left side to be superior to his right (to show

1848-641: The obverse of coins. A movement back to the earlier tradition of a deity being placed on the obverse occurred in Byzantine coinage , where a head of Christ became the obverse and a head or portrait (half or full-length) of the emperor became considered the reverse. The introduction of this style in the gold coins of Justinian II from the year 695 provoked the Islamic Caliph , Abd al-Malik , who previously had copied Byzantine designs, replacing Christian symbols with Islamic equivalents, finally to develop

1904-459: The obverse without some knowledge. After 695, Islamic coins avoided all images of persons and usually contained script alone. The side expressing the Six Kalimas (the Islamic profession of faith) is usually defined as the obverse. A convention exists typically to display the obverse to the left (or above) and the reverse to the right (or below) in photographs and museum displays, but this

1960-560: The obverse. This change happened in the coinage of Alexander the Great , which continued to be minted long after his death. After his conquest of ancient Egypt , he allowed himself to be depicted on the obverse of coins as a god-king , at least partly because he thought this would help secure the allegiance of the Egyptians, who had regarded their previous monarchs, the pharaohs , as divine. The various Hellenistic rulers who were his successors followed his tradition and kept their images on

2016-674: The obverses would have depicted Edward facing right and maintained the tradition. Current UK coinage features the following abbreviated Latin inscription: D[EI] G[RATIA] REX F[IDEI] D[EFENSOR] (' By the Grace of God King, Defender of the Faith '). Earlier issues, before 1954, included BRIT[ANNIARUM] OMN[IUM] ('of all the Britains' – that is, Britain and its dominions) and, before 1949, IND[IAE] IMP[ERATOR] (' Emperor of India '). The United States specifies what appears on

2072-464: The parting in his hair), insisted on his image facing left, as his father's image had. No official legislation prevented his wishes being granted, so left-facing obverses were prepared for minting. Very few examples were struck before he abdicated later that year, and none bearing this portrait were ever issued officially. When George VI acceded to the throne, his image was placed to face left, implying that, had any coins been minted with Edward's portrait

2128-406: The peculiar orientation of The Royal square (The Maidān). Unlike most buildings of importance, this square did not lie in alignment with Mecca , so that when entering the entrance-portal of the mosque, one makes, almost without realising it, the half-right turn, which enables the main court within to face Mecca. Donald Wilber gives the most plausible explanation to this; the vision of Shaykh Bahai

2184-415: The person of the monarch and the state were equivalent for most purposes. For this reason, the obverse side of a modern piece of currency is the one that evokes that reaction by invoking the strength of the state, and that side almost always depicts a symbol of the state, whether it be the monarch or otherwise. If not provided for on the obverse, the reverse side usually contains information relating to

2240-408: The power. The Maidan was where the king and the people met. During the day, much of the square was occupied by the tents and stalls of tradesmen, who paid a weekly rental to the government. There were also entertainers and actors. For the hungry, there were readily available cooked foods or slices of melon, while cups of water were handed out for free by water-carriers paid for by the shop-keepers. At

2296-524: The prominent institutions of the city, such as the residences of all foreign dignitaries, and the Naqsh-e Jahan Square (" Exemplar of the World "). Prior to the Shah's ascent to power, Persia had a decentralized power structure, in which different institutions battled for power, including both the military (the Qizilbash ) and governors of the different provinces making up the empire. Shah Abbas wanted to undermine this political structure, and

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2352-549: The recreation of Isfahan, as a Grand capital of Persia, was an important step in centralizing the power. The crown jewel in this project was the Masjed i Shah, which would replace the much older Jameh Mosque in conducting the Friday prayers. To achieve this, the Shah Mosque was constructed not only with vision of grandeur, having the largest dome in the city, but Shaykh Bahai also planned the construction of two religious schools and

2408-417: The reverse tails . In numismatics , the abbreviation obv. is used for obverse , while ℞, )( and rev. are used for reverse . Vexillologists use the symbols "normal" [REDACTED] for the obverse and "reverse" [REDACTED] for the reverse. The "two-sided" [REDACTED] , "mirror" [REDACTED] , and "equal" [REDACTED] symbols are further used to describe the relationship between

2464-572: The reverse of the nations' former pre-euro coins. Several countries (such as Spain and Belgium ) continue to use portraits of the reigning monarch, while the Republic of Ireland continues to use the State Arms, as on its earlier issues. In Japan, from 1897 to the end of World War II , the following informal conventions existed: The Chrysanthemum Crest was no longer used after the war, and so (equally informally): Following ancient tradition,

2520-400: The royal reception and banquets were held. The largest rooms are found on this floor. The stucco decoration of the banquet hall abounds in motif of various vessels and cups. The sixth floor was popularly called (the music room) as it was here that various ensembles performed music and sang songs. From the upper galleries, the Safavid ruler watched polo games, maneuvers and horse-racing below in

2576-464: The same position as it would be if the flag was being displayed horizontally on the obverse. Displaying the flag in a window requires the reverse be visible from the exterior and the obverse from the interior. Shah Mosque (Isfahan) The Shah Mosque ( Persian : مسجد شاه ) is a mosque located in Isfahan , Iran . It is located on the south side of Naghsh-e Jahan Square . It was built during

2632-515: The situation continued whereby a larger image of a deity , is called the obverse, but a smaller image of a monarch appears on the other side which is called the reverse. In a Western monarchy , it has been customary, following the tradition of the Hellenistic monarchs and then the Roman emperors , for the currency to bear the head of the monarch on one side, which is almost always regarded as

2688-583: The square would be cleared off for public ceremonies and festivities. One such occasion would be the annual event of Nowruz , the Persian New Year. Also, the national Persian sport of polo could be played in the maidan, providing the Shah, residing in the Ali Qapu palace, and the busy shoppers with some entertainment. Under Abbas, Isfahan became a very cosmopolitan city, with a resident population of Turks, Georgians, Armenians, Indians, Chinese and

2744-470: The tile work of the Masjed-e Shah as inferior in both quality and beauty compared to those covering the Lotfallah Mosque , the latter often referred to by contemporary Persian historians, such as Iskandar Munshi , as the mosque of great purity and beauty . The architects also employed a great deal of marble, which they gathered from a marble quarry in nearby Ardestan . The entrance portal of

2800-512: The towering entrance-portal leading to it. By creating an angle between them, the two parts of the building, the entrance-portal and the dome, are in perfect view for everyone within the square to admire. The Crown Jewel in the Naqsh-e Jahan Square was the Masjed-e Shah , which would replace the much older Jameh Mosque in conducting the Friday prayers. To achieve this, the Shah Mosque was constructed not only with vision of grandeur, having

2856-399: The two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money , flags , seals , medals , drawings , old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, obverse means the front face of the object and reverse means the back face. The obverse of a coin is commonly called heads , because it often depicts the head of a prominent person, and

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2912-427: The viewer's left and the opposite fly side to their right, while the reverse is the side visible with the hoist on the right and the fly on the left. Most flags reversed feature a mirror copy of the obverse, a format accommodated by most flag manufacturers. The flag of Saudi Arabia is an exception to both conventions, with a right-hoisted ("sinister" [REDACTED] ) obverse and an equal reverse to correctly arrange

2968-432: Was a huge structure, said to contain 18 million bricks and 475,000 tiles, having cost the Shah 60,000 tomans to build. It employed the new haft rangi (seven-colour) style of tile mosaic . In earlier Iranian mosques the tiles had been made of faience mosaic, a slow and expensive process where tiny pieces are cut from monochrome tiles and assembled to create intricate designs. In the haft rangi method, artisans put on all

3024-433: Was for the mosque to be visible wherever a person was situated in the maydān. Had the axis of the maydān coincided with the axis of Mecca, the dome of the mosque would have been concealed from view by the towering entrance portal leading to it. By creating an angle between them, the two parts of the building, the entrance portal and the dome, are in perfect view for everyone within the square to admire. The Safavids founded

3080-622: Was initiated by the Safavids . The distinct feature of Persian domes, which separates them from those domes created in the Christian world or the Ottoman and Mughal empires , was the colorful tiles, with which they covered the exterior of their domes, as they would on the interior. These domes soon numbered dozens in Isfahan, and the distinct, blue-colored shape would dominate the skyline of

3136-547: Was meant for the public. Ali Qapu ( IPA: ɑliː qɑpuː) is a pavilion that marks the entrance to the vast royal residential quarter of Safavid Isfahan which stretched from the Maidan Naqsh-e Jahan to the Chahar Bagh Boulevard. The name is made of two elements: "Ali", Arabic for exalted, and "Qapu" Turkic for portal or royal threshold. The compound stands for "Exalted Porte". On the sixth floor,

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