Sacredness in the Home as Intangible Cultural Heritage: A Case Study of Historical Iranian Houses

Sacred space is commonly associated with formal places of worship and ritual settings. However, within the Islamic tradition, certain meanings and practices associated with the sacred can also be experienced and sustained within domestic life. This study aims to explain how sacredness is manifested in the Iranian–Islamic home and to examine its relationship with intangible cultural heritage. Using a qualitative, interpretive–historical approach, the study analyzes 18 historical Iranian houses based on theoretical and religious texts, historical sources, written documents, inscribed intangible cultural heritage elements, and architectural plans. The findings demonstrate that the manifestation of sacredness in the home differs from that in formal places of worship and, within domestic space, depends on the continuity of meanings, practices, and behaviors grounded in religious beliefs. Two overlapping analytical pathways were also identified: “behavioral–experiential sacredness,” in which meanings associated with the sacred are sustained through rituals, customs, and lived experience; and “behavioral–spatial sacredness,” in which spatial organization, together with behavior and experience, enables the manifestation and continuity of certain religious practices and meanings. The results further indicate that the continuity of this experience, through intergenerational transmission, continuous re-creation, self-identification, and the safeguarding of authenticity, can be analyzed within the framework of intangible cultural heritage.