Hasht Behesht pavilion, Isfahan

SOURCE: Pascal-Xavier Coste. Monuments modernes de la Perse (Paris, 1867), plate XXXVII NOTES: Coste (an architect and artist) and painter Eugene Flaudin were part of a diplomatic mission to Persia (now Iran) in 1839. They remained for two years recording the monuments and architecture of the country. In 1844 the book ‘Monument historiques de la Perse’ was published, comprising their drawings of works from earliest times to the end of the Sassanid dynasty in the 7th century. Coste prepared an album of their work from that journey which covered the period from the beginnings of Islam in Persia to the reign of Fath-Ali Shah at the end of the 18th century. The work published in 1867, ‘Monuments modernes de la Perse’, is the published result of that album. The Hasht Behesht (meaning eight paradises) was constructed in 1669. It is a garden building located in the walls of the old palace.