Monar Jonban | One of the most amazing tourism attractions of Isfahan
Monar Jonban is one of the most amazing historical monuments and also a very popular tourism attraction in Isfahan. The monument was built in 716 AH and a mystic named “Amoo Abdullah Karladani” is buried in it. The reason for all of Monar Jonban’s popularity is it’s extraordinary, amazing and all-encompassing architecture. The remarkable thing about Monar jonban is that by moving one minaret, the other minaret also moves! Each of these minarets has a width of 9 meters and a height of 17 meters.
Let’s get to know Monar Jonban of Isfahan!
Some minarets in Iran, despite their high strength, shake in place! For this reason people call them Monar Jonban; Monar as minaret and Jonban means something that vacillates. One of these attractive and spectacular minarets is the Isfahan’s famous Monar Jonbant. This building dates back to 7 centuries ago and at that time was in a village named “Karladan”. Although today we consider Monar Jonban as a part of the city of Isfahan but in the past this Minaret was not a part of this city. And if yo see on the map even nowadays, it has a significant distance from the downtown of Isfahan.
Why “Monar Jonban”?
The word “Monar” or “Menar” is the Persian translation of the word “Minaret’. And “Jonban” in Persian means everything that is vacillate and shakes a little. So Monar Jonban actually translates a “Shaking Minaret”. We think that you guessed what should be reason of calling thin monument a Shaking Minaret! Because mysticaly the two minarets of this building shake at their place.
History of this famous monument of Isfahan
According to the available documents, constructing the Monar Jonban complex was in the reign of a person named Mohammad Khodabandeh Oljaito. This building hosts the burial place of “Amoo Abdullah Ibn Mahmoud Soghalabi” who was also famous as ” Amoo Abdullah Karladani“. He was one of the pious mystics of Isfahan; therefore, the minarets are also famous as the tomb of Sheikh Amir Abdullah. You can see the number 716 AH engraved on his tombstone; which indicates the year of construction of his tomb. And one of our documents for guessing the time of the construction of Monar Jonban this number on Abdullah Karladani’s tomb.
Except other parts of the building which date back to 8th century AH , they built the one-porch mansion during Ilkhani period. According to the available documents, this building was built according to the Mongol method, however, the construction of the minarets indicates that they were attached to the porch in the last years of the Safavid rule.
About Monar Jonban’s architecture:
The Monar Jonban complex has several sections:
- Minarets: The most important part of the complex are it’s minarets. And each of them are 9 meters wide and 17 meters high. They decorated the minarets with gorgeous turquoise polygonal tiles and four-pointed star azure tiles. The unique feature of these minarets is that one of them moves after shaking the first minaret.
- Porch: The porch of the complex hosts the tomb of Sheikh Amir Abdullah and is 10 meters above the ground. In the construction of the porch they used bricks, and tiles and paintings inside the dome for decoration. Near the porch, you can see several white tombstones, which appear to be remnants of the old cemetery on which they built Monar Jonban on it. With a spiral staircase, you can access the roof and minarets of the complex from the porch; but unfortunately, it’s use is forbidden for visitors.
- Chelekhaneh: There are two rooms in the complex, called Chelekhaneh. These rooms were the place where the mystics settled. Mystics and ascetics stayed in this simple space for 40 days, while practicing austerity, they were alone with their god. And the fact that they used these rooms for 40 days is the reason of calling them “Chelehkhaneh” (in Persian culture they call each 40 days “Chelleh” or “Chehelleh“).
Why does this minaret shakes?
By shaking one of the minarets, the second minaret and other parts of the building also shake and this is the unique feature that makes this historical complex one of the mysterious attractions of Isfahan. Apparently, in other countries like Saudi Arabia and Iraq, historical monuments have been found that move in their place. But according to physicists, one reason for the minarets to move is Doppler theory (Christian Doppler is an Austrian mathematician and physicist) or intensification.
These minarets are generally similar to each other and do not weigh much. When one of the minarets shakes, it automatically affects the other minaret and causes it to move! Some believe that the minarets of Isfahan are different from other shaking minarets in the world; because in addition to the shaking of the minarets, other parts of this ancient mansion also shake!
Hamid Shahinpour, Chairman of the Research Committee of the Iranian Indigenous Technologies Association, presents an interesting analysis of the movement of the minarets:
By tying the end of two yarns of the same length to a horizontal yarn, we can create two pendulums, and as one yarn moves, the other yarn will also move. If one yarn is taller than the other, the longer the yarn, the more the yarn will move. If one of the yarns weighs more, the second yarn starts moving by moving one of the yarns. So we can say that shaking one of the minarets will affect the other minaret and cause it to move.
What do you think of Monar Jonban? Is this building mystical enough for you? tell us your opinion of this building! And thanks for reading.
