A Modest Celebration for the 12th Shia Imam

Tehran, Iran - Reza - Sunday, March 13th, 2011 : goo

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Tehran's devout go all out for the birthdays of the 12 Imams of Shi'a Islam and decorate their houses, mosques, and offices with lights and banners. At night, thousands of young people from neighborhood youth clubs go into the streets and pass out sweets and chocolate to passing cars, creating massive traffic jams and garnering annoyed looks from more secular commuters.

Some people, however, take a more modest approach to the celebration.

This house, built in the utilitarian style that defines much of modern, central Tehran, is one of them. The traditional brick and mud architecture of Tehran gave way in the 1930's and 40's to a heavily modernist style favored by the Pahlavi dynasty, which favored Iran's adoption of a modernity defined by the embrace of European norms in all aspects of life- including architecture and urban planning.

This utilitarian architecture has retained its popularity as a symbol of modernity among Iran's Islamic government, but the upper classes, so fond of it under the Pahlavis, have since reverted to gaudy approximations of neo-classical or faux-Italian villas as they build the skyscrapers that today define north Tehran's skyline.

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