The date of construction and the original founder of Eram Garden in Shiraz is not well known; But some descriptions of it are given in travelogues belonging to the tenth and eleventh centuries AH. This garden existed in the time of the Seljuks and Al-Inju. During Zandieh’s reign, Karim Khan Zand also worked on the construction and improvement of this garden. It is also mentioned in the diary of Queen Mansour Khan Qashqaei that Eram Garden was the residence of Khan Ghanqari Bavanat. During the Qajar and Pahlavi eras, this garden was the seat of the Qashqai chiefs until the Qashqai Khans were exiled and the Eram Garden was confiscated due to their support for Mossadegh. During the reign of Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar, another mansion was built by Hussein Ali Khan Nasir al-Mulk. With his death, his niece Abu al-Qasim Khan Nasir al-Mulk took over the affairs of the Eram Garden and completed the half-finished mansion. This garden was the property of the Ghavami family in Shiraz. This mansion still stands. This garden has a very high plant diversity and plants from many parts of the world have been planted in this garden; In such a way that the garden has become an exhibition of all kinds of flowers and plants. This garden is currently owned by Shiraz University; Its botanical garden is at the disposal of the Faculty of Agriculture and the garden building is at the disposal of the Faculty of Law. On July 27, 2011, at the 35th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, the Eram Garden in Shiraz, along with eight other Iranian gardens, was inscribed on the World Heritage List.
The middle mansion is the central core of this garden. This building was built during the Qajar period and imitated the architectural style of Zandieh. This mansion is one of the architectural masterpieces of Qajar period in terms of architecture, painting, tiling and plastering. This mansion consists of three floors with many decorations. The basement rooms, which are almost underground, are a place to relax on hot summer days. The decoration of these rooms is colored tiles. The upper two floors have columns inspired by Persepolis. In front of the building, there are two semicircles on both sides, and a large panel in the middle, which consists of 3 crescents on top of each other. This painting shows pictures of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh and the battle of the Qajar kings.
The mirror work of the Hall of Mirrors and interesting oil paintings on the ceilings of the rooms and porches were restored. The dilapidated garden area was repaired and restored to its original design. Most of the tiled facade tiles that had collapsed were re-installed in the same style.
The front tile of the central porch and its surroundings is one of the most interesting tiles of the Qajar period that is not seen in other buildings of the Qajar period. Whether it is not seen in the building of Ghavam-ol-Molki’s court or inside Zinat-ol-Molki or other buildings of Qajar period such as the tiled inscription on the front porch of Eram Garden building and therefore it should be considered as a unique example.
