Persian Tent - Expo Vienna 1873

Opposite the pavilion of the Shah, glittering with the brilliance of the many squares with which it is covered, is a large tent, which shows us the mobile abode of the Persian ruler.

The tent plays a great part among the peoples of Iran, among whom are still many nomadic tribes; this part is much greater than we are accustomed to attribute to this primitive object. Let us now see the tent of the Shah of Persia, who must often cross sparsely populated provinces, across the immense plains, for the maintenance of his authority. The tent of Nasser-ed-Din is not especially different from other tents, which have served for thousands of years as mobile dwellings of the same type and construction. The only remarkable thing about this Persian tent is that it consists of two tents, the larger of which contains a smaller but much more valuable one. The inner tent, whose parquet floor is covered with carpets and whose canvas walls are covered inside and out with satin of different colours, is, so to speak, the reception room of the Schah, which has on both sides the bedroom and the bathroom.
The satin-covered walls can be closed tightly enough to prevent the slightest draught from entering. The space left free by the middle tent offers enough room for the movement of the guards and servants of the "King of Kings".

The tent is moored to the ground by means of 16 pairs of ropes, and so solidly that the most violent storm cannot detach this light construction from the ground; the great hurricane which, on 29 June last, took away the captive balloon attached to a hundred ropes, could not do anything to the Persian tent.

©L’Exposition Universelle de Vienne 1873