This paper investigates the role of Shi’a belief in the conservation of tomb gardens belonging to Shi’a Imams, Imamzadeh or saints through selection of one case study; Qadamgah garden in Neyshabur. The significance of Qadamgah among other Iranian tomb gardens rests on its association with Imam Reza and its location on the pilgrimage routes to Mashhad that have turned it into a place of ritual gathering, drawing thousands of pilgrims annually. In contrast to Persian palace gardens with chaharbagh layout, which rarely connote Quranic Paradise, the monumental tomb-garden of Qadamgah contains a dual connotation. Its layout evokes Muslim paradisiacal imagery, and the garden itself also embodies and reinforces this theological and spiritual denotation; it acts as a mediator to enter to Paradise or to receive divine rewards in the Hereafter. This paper argues that the faith and degree of religiousness of the Iranian community is has been, and remains, a real force for continuity in the social and physical life of Qadamgah garden, helping it to resist complex ideological shifts and upheavals over the centuries, even in the absence of any regulatory framework regarding historical gardens in Iran.

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