15 real photos of the Iranian Shah and his beauty-wives

A few days ago the news spread around the world: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has revived the tradition of his grandfather and father and started his own harem "Garden of Delights". Harem Europeans seems sort of abode young and beautiful women of the Arabian tales "1000 and One Nights." Meanwhile, curious photo harem Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar, who ruled in Iran in the late 19th century, smashing stereotypes. In our review you can see the beauties of the harem of the Iranian ruler personally.

Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar - Shah of Iran, the fourth, took power in 1848 and ruled for 47 years. His reign was the longest in the 3000-year old history of Iran.





1. Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar - happy owner of a harem.

Historians tell us that for the time Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar was well educated and had the reputation of a sybarite, but so that later angered his entourage.



2. Ad-Din Shah Qajar and photographer Sevryugin before taking a picture.

One of the many passions Shah Qajar was a photograph. Photographing he liked as a child, and when he came to power, decided to set up in his palace the first official photo studio. In the 1870s in Tehran opened a studio photographer Anton Sevryugin Russian, who became a court photographer of Iranian ruler. Sevryugin created a chronicle of Iran and for his services was awarded the honorary title.





3. The main entrance to the palace of Golestan.

Russian photographer could shoot himself shah, his male relatives, courtiers and servants. And for a Qajar, an ardent fan of the photo, left the right to withdraw his harem, which he had, according to the testimony of historians, about 100 concubines.





4. The fullness - as the main criterion of beauty.

It is known that the photographs Nasser al-Din Shah himself printed in the palace laboratory and kept in satin albums in his Golestan Palace, which now houses a museum.





5. Incomparable Anis al-Doleh - beloved wife of the Shah (right).

The extraordinary photos of his concubines is that Shiite law at the time, it was not permissible to shoot the faces of people, and especially women's faces. Only the most powerful man in the country could not afford to break the law.



6. Anis al-Doleh or soulmate Powers.







7. Incomparable Anis al-Doleh (sitting).

Photographs of women challenged the generally accepted idea of ​​life in the harem - the shah's wife looks quite modern for that time, and self-confident, they quietly look into the camera lens, not flirting and not shy.



8. Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar c some women of the harem.

It is even conceivable that the wives in the harem have friendly relations - some photos show the group on a picnic.



9. Harem on a picnic.



10. thinness harem did not suffer.

The photographs can be seen on the tastes of the Iranian monarch - all women in the body, fused with bushy eyebrows and mustache clearly visible. It is clearly seen that women do not suffer from hunger and are not burdened by physical work. Experts say, that there is even a collection of Golestan nude photos, but they are well hidden.

11. Young Concubine with hookah.



12. Many photos of the harem concubines were sealed in short skirts like a lush tutus (shaliteh). And it is no coincidence.



13. It is known that in 1873, Nasser al-Din Shah, at the invitation of Alexander II visited St. Petersburg and attended the ballet. According to legend, he was fascinated by the Russian dancers that brought women to their shaliteh. However, on Muslim headscarves concubines could refuse just before the camera. However, it is possible that this is just a legend.

A selection of photos commented a senior fellow at the Center for Arab and Islamic Studies at the Institute of Oriental Studies, Ph.D. Boris Dolgov:

"The picture is really a woman. It is not hermaphrodites and males, as it is today, many might think. Of course, such inmates in harems too, but they were held in secret, because the Koran does not welcome these things. And about beauty ... As you know, tastes do not. As for the vegetation - for it is typical of oriental women. However, it is possible that the owner of a harem liked "baleen" ladies. Conjoined brows were fashionable at the time, and the completeness was synonymous with beauty. Women harem specially fed very tight and did not allow them to actively move ».