Timchah-i Amin al-Dawlah

Kashan, Iran

Timchah-i Amin al-Dawla is a building in the Bazaar of Kashan constructed during the Qajar period. It is named after Farrukh Khan Amin al-Dawla who commissioned its construction, and is dated to 1285 AH (1868-1869 CE). It is located on the south side of the main artery of Kashan's bazaar, along a section known as Khayyat-ha opposite a domed intersection (chahar-su) known as Miyanchal.

The building, which connects to the other bazaar structures around it, is two stories high and is arranged around a vestibule and a large central space, axially aligned with the entrance.

The main entrance is on the north side of the complex, and opens under the chahar-su of Miyanchal. This entrance leads through a short hallway south to the vestibule, which is a rectangle with angled corners (hasht-u-nim-hasht), almost octagonal in form. This space is vaulted with a dome whose surface is covered with brick executed in the yazdi-bandi technique. Chambers open onto six of the vestibule's eight sides, and rooms on a second story surmount these. Occupying the remaining two faces are the entrance from the bazaar and, directly opposite this, an open passage onto the timchah's central hall.

The central hall has a more complex plan. It takes the shape of a cross made by two rectangles with angled corners (hasht-u-nim-hasht) superimposed over one another: a longer one oriented east-west and a shorter, wider one oriented along the main north-south axis of the building. These create a central square bay flanked on north and south by shallow bays and on east and west by deeper bays. A large octagonal fountain occupies the central bay, and rooms open onto the three faces and two angled corners of each long side bay. 

A beautiful vault covers this space, a large dome occupying the space over the central square bay, and four semidomes supporting it over the side bays. The surface of these domes is completely covered in brick ornament executed in the yazdi-bandi technique. At the apex of the central dome and the two larger semi-domes to the east and west of it are occuli. 

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