Iwan
Iwan
Iwan
In Middle Asian dwellings, mosques, and so on, a terrace with a flat roof supported by columns or pillars.
(2) A spacious vaulted building which opens onto an interior court on one side. In Parthian and Sassanid architecture the iwans served as reception halls in palaces—for example, the Kukhe-Khodzha Palace on the territory of what is now Iran, and the Sassanid Ctesiphon Palace on the territory of what is now Iraq. In the Middle Ages they were widely used in palace and cult architecture of the Middle and Near East—for example, in the mosques of Isfahan, the palace in Sarvestan (Iran), and the mosques of Bukhara (Uzbekistan), Herat (Afghanistan), and many others.