Urbanizing the Sacred: A Passageway under the Shrine of Imam Reza - Iran

The proposed study focuses on contemporary restructurings and developments at the shrine of Imam Reza, which--as the resting place of the eighth Imam of the Shiites in Iran-- has been a pilgrimage site since the 9th century. It is believed that the Imam was martyred by Maʾmun, son of Harun al-Rashid, and was buried in Harun’s mausoleum in Mashhad. The complex went through numerous destructions and transformations over the centuries. The focus of my study are the changes and expansions of the 20th century (from 1928 on), with the beginning of modern urban development and the introduction of central planning of Iranian cities. Due to its significance, the trusteeship of this shrine during the reign of the Pahlavi dynasty has always been with the Shah himself. Since the Islamic revolution of 1979, the Supreme Leader appoints the trustees from among clerical figures. The present trustee is a member of the "National Expediency Discerning Council", "Experts Assembly of the Leading Jurists”, and the “Deputy of the Supreme Leader” in the province of Khorasan. The independence of the trustee in the Islamic Republic is more visible in the decision-making processes regarding the expansion of the Shrine.
This paper focuses on the procedure of planning and implementing an underpass in the shrine of Imam Reza, meant to avoid the conflict between the traffic circulation and the act of pilgrimage to the shrine. I analyse the practices, power relations and professional discourses of managers, city planners, and architects, Idrawing conclusions about the authority and participation of different actors in this religiously sensitive project. I try to illustrate how their positions as experts and their interactions influence the outcome of a project which they sometimes intriguingly question. Their doubts and perceptions of the managerial system as a whole are reflected in the manner in which they operate. I also demonstrate how their expectations and efforts are perceived by the trustee. The study attempts to go beyond the normative framework of analyzing spatiality in sacred sites, and focuses instead on the subtle strategies of power used by the actors, which make the building complex religiously acceptable. It examines the process of modern development introduced by the developers in a traditional building complex under the supervision of the Shiite clerical hierarchy, and explores how the sacredness of this site is concretely affected by the politics of modernization in contemporary Iran.