Hasht Behesht Palace

Hasht Behesht meaning "Eight Paradises" is a Safavid era palace in Isfahan, Iran. It was built in 1669 and is today protected by Iran's Cultural Heritage Organization. Of more than forty mansions which existed in Isfahan during the rule of Safavids, this is the only one left today.

In architecture Hasht-Bihisht refers to a specific type of floorplan common in Persian architecture and Mughal architecture whereby the plan is divided into 8 chambers surrounding a central room.

The eight divisions and frequent octagonal forms of such structures represent the eight levels of paradise for Muslims. The paradigm however was not confined solely to Islamic antecedents. The Chinese magic square was employed for numerous purposes including crop rotation and also finds a Muslim expression in the wafq of their mathematicians. Ninefold schemes find particular resonance in the Indian mandalas, the cosmic maps of Hinduism and Buddhism.