TEHRAN -- The art of the Iranian master Islamic architect Haj Hossein Lorzadeh was reviewed during his commemoration ceremony at the Naqsh-e Jahan Cultural Center on Sunday.

The Iranian Academy of Arts (IAA) held the ceremony.
After screening a film on the life of Lorzadeh, the head of the Architecture and Urban-planning Encyclopedia Seyyed Mohammad Beheshti spoke about the master’s achievements.
Beheshti, who is also a member of IAA, said that Lorzadeh always incorporated an ascending movement in his designs and always searched for pure art.
“Lorzadeh was an artist who never involved himself in the marginal issues of art that are common in our time and that made him a great,” he mentioned.
Attending the ceremony, the art critic Seyyed Javad Mojabi commented that no assessment is carried out on Iran contemporary architecture.
“Although the painters and calligraphers of most Iranian monuments and historical buildings are known, unfortunately many of their architects remain anonymous,” he mentioned.
People like Lorzadeh who had a good knowledge of traditional architecture and combined it with his art presents a great educational opportunity for others, he added.
At the ceremony, the only student of Master Lorzadeh Hossein Mofid present commented on the approach of the modern architect to traditional architecture.
He went on to say that the belief modern architects hold that all traditional architects created the same type of artwork is simply not true.
“Decoration in architecture gives prestige to the building materials, and this is what Lorzadeh has done,” IAA official Hossein Makinejad mentioned during the ceremony.
Hossein Lorzadeh was born in 1906 in Tehran. His father, Master Mohammad, was one of the most renowned architects of his time and was a colleague of Haj Hassan Sani’ al-Divan.
Haj Hossein Lorzadeh is best known for his work on the courtyard of the Holy Shrine of Imam Hussein (AS) in Karbala. He also designed and worked on the gate of the main branch of the Shahi Bank (now called the Tejarat Bank), worked on the design and construction of the Mausoleum of Ferdowsi in Tus, and designed and participated in the construction of 842 mosques.