Maremat & Me'mari-e Iran

This study compares the Safavid Mosque and the Renaissance Church in the field of daylight design. The present study seeks to answer these questions: What methods are used to provide the light in the mosque and church, and what are the similarities and differences between the “qualities of the presence of daylight” in each of these religious buildings? To limit the scope of research, Jame Abbasi Mosque during the Safavid period and the great Church of St. Peter in the Renaissance period were chosen as case studies and all the ways of entering daylight into them were compared relatively. For this purpose, at first, a comprehensive categorization of the ways of daylight entrance in traditional religious buildings was introduced and then techniques of daylight design in these buildings were analyzed and compared by recording field observations through virtual tourism websites and exploring library resources. In the daylight design of the church, since conventional Christian worship does not require much light, the presence of daylight does not require at the level of flow of functions. On the other hand, although in the mosque’s daylight design, the presence of daylight in space was considered, but at the level of running functions, a certain amount of brightness was required.  Qibla (direction of performing some rituals) is also one of the prominent elements in daylight design of the mosque, while Qibla and light in the church are intertwined, and churches are completely facing sunrise and sunset. Finally, it can be said that the similarities and differences in the design of daylight in the mosque and the church are due to the climatic, functional and architectural features and are also influenced by Muslims and Christians’ understanding from metaphysics of light.