The Shah Mosque ( Persian : مسجد شاه ) is a mosque located in Isfahan , Iran . It is located on the south side of Naghsh-e Jahan Square . It was built during the Safavid Empire under the order of Abbas the Great .
119-587: It is regarded as one of the masterpieces of Persian architecture in the Islamic era. The Royal Mosque is registered, along with the Naghsh-e Jahan Square , as a UNESCO World Heritage Site . Its construction began in 1611. The mosque is depicted on the reverse of the Iranian 20,000 rials banknote. It was found damaged in 2022. In 1598, when Shah Abbas decided to move the capital of his Persian empire from
238-447: A speaker system on the minaret. Additionally, minarets historically served a visual symbolic purpose. In the early 9th century, the first minarets were placed opposite the qibla wall. Oftentimes, this placement was not beneficial in reaching the community for the call to prayer. They served as a reminder that the region was Islamic and helped to distinguish mosques from the surrounding architecture. They also acted as symbols of
357-711: A ṣawma῾a ("monk's cell", due to its small size). An example of these platforms is documented during the reconstruction of the Mosque of Amr ibn al-As in 673 by Mu'awiya 's local governor, Maslama ibn Mukhallad al-Ansari , who was given orders by the caliph to add one to each of the mosque's four corners, similar to the Great Mosque of Damascus which had a ṣawma῾a above each of the Roman-era towers at its four corners. Historical sources also mention such features in mosques in other parts of North Africa . In another example, under
476-454: A "lamp stand", a cognate of Hebrew menorah . It is assumed to be a derivation of an older reconstructed form, manwara . The other word, manār (plural: manā'ir or manāyir ), means "a place of light". Both words derive from the Arabic root n-w-r , which has a meaning related to "light". Both words also had other meanings attested during the early Islamic period: manār could also mean
595-447: A "sign" or "mark" (to show one where to go) and both manār and manāra could mean " lighthouse ". The formal function of a minaret is to provide a vantage point from which the muezzin can issue the call to prayer, or adhan . The call to prayer is issued five times each day: dawn, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset, and night. In most modern mosques, the adhān is called from the musallah (prayer hall) via microphone to
714-513: A 20th-century scholar of Persian architecture, described it in these terms: "there are no trivial buildings; even garden pavilions have nobility and dignity, and the humblest caravanserais generally have charm. In expressiveness and communicativity, most Persian buildings are lucid, even eloquent. The combination of intensity and simplicity of form provides immediacy, while ornament and, often, subtle proportions reward sustained observation." According to scholars Nader Ardalan and Laleh Bakhtiar ,
833-413: A different design than the others. This configuration was particularly characteristic of Cairo . The minaret of the al-Maridani Mosque (circa 1340) is the first one to have an entirely octagonal shaft and the first one to end with a narrow lantern structure consisting of eight slender columns topped by a bulbous stone finial . This style later became the basic standard form of Cairene minarets, while
952-479: A distant glimpse of what contributions Persians made to the art of building. The imposing Sassanid castle built at Derbent , Dagestan (now a part of Russia) is one of the most extant and living examples of splendid Sassanid Iranian architecture. Since 2003, the Sassanid castle has been listed on Russia's UNESCO World Heritage list. According to Mohammad Karim Pirnia, the ancient architecture of Iran can be divided into
1071-539: A major study on the question in 1926 which then became the standard scholarly theory on the origin of minarets for roughly fifty years. Creswell attributed the origin of minaret towers to the influence of Syrian church towers and regarded the spiral or helicoidal minarets of the Abbasid period as deriving from local ziggurat precedents, but rejected the possible influence of the Pharos Lighthouse. He also established that
1190-430: A monumental appearance. The first known minarets built as towers appeared under Abbasid rule. Four towers were added to the Great Mosque of Mecca during its Abbasid reconstruction in the late 8th century. In the 9th century single minaret towers were built in or near the middle of the wall opposite the qibla wall of mosques. These towers were built across the empire in a height to width ratio of around 3:1. One of
1309-561: A more sophisticated form of the pointed arch , is first attested during the 9th century in Abbasid monuments at Samarra in Iraq, such as the Qasr al-Ashiq palace. It became widely used in later Iranian architecture. Samarra also saw the appearance of new decorative styles, which rendered the earlier vegetal motifs of Sasanian and Byzantine traditions into more abstract and stylized forms, as exemplified by
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#17330938909141428-670: A number of ornate brick towers and minarets which have survived as stand-alone structures. Their exact functions are unclear. They include the Tower of Mas'ud III near Ghazna (early 12th century) and the Minaret of Jam built by the Ghurids (late 12th century), also in present-day Afghanistan. As the Great Seljuks declined in the 12th century, various other dynasties (often also of Turkic origin) formed smaller states and empires. In Iran and Central Asia,
1547-417: A picture of its classical architecture. The Achaemenids built on a grand scale. The artists and materials they used were brought in from practically all territories of what was then the largest state in the world. Pasargadae set the standard: its city was laid out in an extensive park with bridges, gardens, colonnaded palaces and open column pavilions. Pasargadae along with Susa and Persepolis expressed
1666-542: A place for prayer, and this continued to be the practice in mosques during the period of the four Rashidun Caliphs (632–661). The origin of the minaret is unclear. Many 19th-century and early 20th-century scholars traced the origin of minarets to the Umayyad Caliphate period (661–750) and believed that they imitated the church steeples found in Syria in those times. Others suggested that these towers were inspired by
1785-457: A pointed, bulging profile, sometimes fluted or ribbed. Minaret A minaret ( / ˌ m ɪ n ə ˈ r ɛ t , ˈ m ɪ n ə ˌ r ɛ t / ; Arabic : منارة , romanized : manāra , or Arabic: مِئْذَنة , romanized: miʾḏana ; Turkish : minare ; Persian : گلدسته , romanized : goldaste ) is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques . Minarets are generally used to project
1904-558: A recognizable style distinct from other regions of the Muslim world. Its virtues are "a marked feeling for form and scale; structural inventiveness, especially in vault and dome construction; a genius for decoration with a freedom and success not rivaled in any other architecture". Traditional Persian architecture has maintained a continuity that, although temporarily distracted by internal political conflicts or foreign invasion, nonetheless has achieved an unmistakable style. Arthur Pope ,
2023-803: A square base. Around the same time, between the late 10th century and the early 13th century, the Turkic Qarakhanids ruled in Transoxiana and executed many impressive constructions in Bukhara and Samarkand (present-day Uzbekistan ). Among the known Qarakhanid monuments are the great congregational mosque in Bukhara, of which only the Kalyan Minaret (c. 1127) survives, the nearby Minaret of Vabkent (1141), and several Qarakhanid mausoleums with monumental façades, such as those in Uzgen (present-day Kyrgyzstan ) from
2142-521: A square shaft and are arranged in two tiers: the main shaft, which makes up most of its height, and a much smaller secondary tower above this which is in turn topped by a finial of copper or brass spheres. Some minarets in the Maghreb have octagonal shafts, though this is more characteristic of certain regions or periods; e.g. the minarets of the Great Mosque of Chefchaouen , the Great Mosque of Ouazzane ,
2261-507: A vast area from Turkey and Iraq to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan , and from the Caucasus to Zanzibar . Persian buildings vary greatly in scale and function, from vernacular architecture to monumental complexes. In addition to historic gates, palaces, and mosques, the rapid growth of cities such as the capital Tehran has brought about a wave of demolition and new construction. According to American historian and archaeologist Arthur Pope ,
2380-640: A wall of carved stucco in the Mausoleum of Pir-i Bakran in Linjan (near Isfahan), and a mihrab added in 1310 to the Jameh Mosque of Isfahan. The latter is one of the masterpieces of Islamic sculptural art from this era, featuring multiple layers of deeply-carved vegetal motifs, along with a carved inscription. Various mosques were built or expanded during this period, usually following the four-iwan plan for congregational mosques (e.g. at Varamin and Kirman ), except in
2499-535: A way to foster trade and assert Seljuk authority in the countryside. They typically consisted of a building with a fortified exterior appearance, monumental entrance portal, and interior courtyard surrounded by various halls, including iwans. Some notable examples, only partly preserved, are the caravanserais of Ribat-i Malik (c. 1068–1080) and Ribat-i Sharaf (12th century) in Transoxiana and Khorasan, respectively. The Seljuks also continued to build "tower tombs", an Iranian building type from earlier periods, such as
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#17330938909142618-434: A winter mosque clamped at either side of it. The architect of the mosque is Ali Akbar Isfahani . His name appears in an inscription in the mosque above the doorway of the entrance iwan complex. The inscription also mentions that the supervisor of the construction as Muhibb 'Ali Beg Lala who was also a major donor to the mosque. Another architect Badi al-zaman-i Tuni may have been involved in its early design. Because of
2737-526: Is also evidence of multi-domed mosques, though most mosques were modified or rebuilt in later eras. The Jameh Mosque of Na'in , one of the oldest surviving congregational mosques in Iran, contains some of the best-preserved features from this period, including decorative brickwork, Kufic inscriptions, and rich stucco decoration featuring vine scrolls and acanthus leaves that draw from the earlier styles of Samarra. Another important architectural trend to arise in
2856-482: Is not clear what function these towers served. They do not appear to have been used for the call to prayer and may have been intended instead as visual symbols of the mosque's status. Historical sources also reference an earlier manāra , built of stone, being added to the mosque of Basra in 665 by the Umayyad provincial governor, but it is not entirely clear if it was a tower or what form it had, though it must have had
2975-408: Is recognized by UNESCO as being one of the cradles of civilization . Each of the periods of Elamites , Achaemenids , Parthians and Sassanids were creators of great architecture that, over the ages, spread far and wide far to other cultures. Although Iran has suffered its share of destruction, including Alexander The Great 's decision to burn Persepolis , there are sufficient remains to form
3094-564: Is the Soltaniyeh Mausoleum built for Sultan Uljaytu ( r. 1304–1317 ), a massive dome supported on a multi-level octagonal structure with internal and external galleries. Only the domed building remains today, missing much of its original turquoise tile decoration, but it was once the centerpiece of a larger religious complex including a mosque, a hospital , and living areas. Smaller tombs and shrines in honour of local Sufis were also built or renovated by Ilkhanid patrons, such as
3213-507: Is the Tarikhaneh Mosque in Damghan . Though the chronology of its construction is not well-documented, its overall form and style may date to the 9th century, or possibly earlier, given its close similarities with Sassanid architecture. It has a courtyard surrounded by a portico and a hypostyle prayer hall where the central aisle leading to the mihrab (a niche in the wall symbolizing
3332-680: The banna'i technique was used to create geometric patterns and Kufic inscriptions at relatively low cost, while more expensive tile mosaic continued to be used for floral patterns. Tiles were preferred on the outside, while interior walls could be covered with carved or painted plaster instead. Among the most important Timurid innovations was the more sophisticated and fluid arrangement of geometric vaulting. Large vaults were divided by intersecting ribs into smaller vaults which could then be further subdivided or filled with muqarnas and other types of decoration. Muqarnas itself also became even more complex by using smaller individual cells to create
3451-455: The qibla ) is slightly wider than the other aisles. It originally had no minaret, but a tall cylindrical tower was added to it in 1026. This minaret is now the oldest one still standing in Iran. In secular architecture, the remains of various palaces and residences from this period have also been studied, such as those around Merv (present-day Turkmenistan ). They shared many features with earlier Sasanian and Sogdian architecture. Among
3570-684: The Fatimids , generally refrained from building them during these early centuries. The earliest evidence of minarets being used for hosting the call to prayer dates to the 10th century and it was only towards the 11th century that minaret towers became a near-universal feature of mosques. Next to the Huaishengsi Mosque in Guangzhou is the Tower of Light, also known as the Guangta minaret (1350). The mosque and
3689-524: The Ghurids , built monuments in a very similar style. A general tradition of architecture was thus shared across most of the eastern Islamic world (Iran, Central Asia, and parts of the northern Indian subcontinent ) throughout the Seljuk period and its decline, from the 11th to 13th centuries. This period is also regarded as a "classical" age of Central Asian architecture. The most important religious monument from
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3808-755: The Kasbah Mosque of Tangier , and the Great Mosque of Asilah in Morocco or the Ottoman-era minarets of Tunisia such as the Youssef Dey Mosque and the Hammouda Pacha Mosque . Inside the main shaft a staircase, and in other cases a ramp, ascends to the top of the minaret. The minaret at the Great Mosque of Kairouan , built in 836 under Aghlabid rule, is the oldest minaret in North Africa and one of
3927-627: The Khwarazm-Shahs , formerly vassals of the Seljuks and Qara Khitai , took advantage of this to expand their power and form the Khwarazmian Empire, occupying much of the region and conquering the Ghurids in the early 13th century, only to fall soon after to the Mongol invasions. The site of the former Khwarazmian capital, Kunya-Urgench (in present-day Turkmenistan), has preserved several monuments from
4046-569: The Minaret of Jam , in a remote area of present-day Afghanistan , was built c. 1175 by the Ghurids and features elaborate brick decoration and inscriptions. The Qutb Minar in Delhi , the most monumental minaret in India , was built in 1199 and was designed on the same model as the Minaret of Jam. In later periods, however, minarets in this region became generally less monumental in comparison with
4165-570: The Muzaffarids and the Jalayirids , also sponsored new constructions. Ilkhanid architecture elaborated earlier Iranian traditions. In particular, greater attention was given to interior spaces and how to organize them. Rooms were made taller, while transverse vaulting was employed and walls were opened with arches, thus allowing more light and air inside. Muqarnas , which was previously confined to covering limited transitional elements like squinches,
4284-618: The Ottomans , and at the same time gained more control over the Persian Gulf , which had recently become an important trading route for the Dutch and British East India Companies . The chief architect of this task of urban planning was Shaykh Bahai (Baha' ad-Din al-`Amili), who focused the programme on two key features of Shah Abbas's master plan: the Chahar Bagh avenue, flanked at either side by all
4403-606: The Safavids . The distinct feature of Persian domes, which separates them from those domes created in the Christian world or the Ottoman and Mughal empires , was the colorful tiles, with which they covered the exterior of their domes, as they would on the interior. These domes soon numbered dozens in Isfahan, and the distinct, blue-colored shape would dominate the skyline of the city. Reflecting
4522-574: The Samanids , with other dynasties arising in Central Asia soon after. It is around this period that many of the distinctive features of subsequent Iranian and Central Asian architecture first emerged, including the use of baked brick for both construction and decoration, the use of glazed tile for surface decoration, and the development of muqarnas (three-dimensional geometric vaulting) from squinches . Hypostyle mosques continued to be built and there
4641-617: The Seleucid (310–140 BCE), Parthian (247 BCE – 224 CE), and Sassanid (224–651 CE) eras, reaching its apex of development in the Sassanid period. Examples of this style are Ghal'eh Dokhtar , the royal compounds at Nysa , Anahita Temple , Khorheh , Hatra , the Ctesiphon vault of Kasra , Bishapur , and the Palace of Ardashir in Ardeshir Khwarreh (Firouzabad). The Islamic era began with
4760-472: The Timurids (1370–1506). This period saw the construction of some of the largest and most ambitious Iranian monuments of the Islamic world. The Ilkhanids were initially traditional nomadic Mongols, but at the end of the 13th century, Ghazan Khan ( r. 1295–1304 ) converted to Islam and aided a cultural and economic resurgence in which urban Iranian culture was of primary importance. Ilkhanid vassals, like
4879-603: The Toghrul Tower built in Rayy (south of present-day Tehran ) in 1139. More innovative, however, was the introduction of mausoleums with a square or polygonal floor plan, which later became a common form of monumental tombs. Early examples of this are the two Kharraqan Mausoleums (1068 and 1093) near Qazvin (northern Iran), which have octagonal forms, and the large Mausoleum of Sanjar (c. 1152) in Merv (present-day Turkmenistan), which has
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4998-611: The Umayyad Emirate of al-Andalus , emir Hisham I ordered the addition of a ṣawma'a to the Great Mosque of Cordoba in 793. A possible exception to the absence of tower minarets is documented in Caliph al-Walid 's renovation of the Prophet's Mosque in Medina in the early 8th century, during which he built a tower, referred to as a manāra , at each of the mosque's four corners. However, it
5117-445: The history of Iran . The most striking are a marked feeling for scale and a discerning use of simple and massive forms. The consistency of decorative preferences, the high-arched portal set within a recess , columns with bracket capitals, and recurrent types of plan and elevation can also be mentioned. Through the ages these elements have recurred in completely different types of buildings, constructed for various programs and under
5236-498: The makhbara -style summit disappeared. Later minarets in the Burji Mamluk period (late 14th to early 16th centuries) typically had an octagonal shaft for the first tier, a round shaft on the second, and a lantern structure with finial on the third level. The stone-carved decoration of the minaret also became very extensive and varied from minaret to minaret. Minarets with completely square or rectangular shafts reappeared at
5355-564: The oldest minarets still standing is that of the Great Mosque of Kairouan in Tunisia , built in 836 and well-preserved today. Other minarets that date from the same period, but less precisely dated, include the minaret of the Friday Mosque of Siraf , now the oldest minaret in Iran, and the minaret opposite the qibla wall at the Great Mosque of Damascus (known as the "Minaret of the Bride"), now
5474-685: The ziggurats of Babylonian and Assyrian shrines in Mesopotamia . Some scholars, such as A. J. Butler and Hermann Thiersch, agreed that the Syrian minarets were derived from church towers but also argued that the minarets of Egypt were inspired by the form of the Pharos Lighthouse in Alexandria (which survived up until medieval times). K. A. C. Creswell , an orientalist and important early-20th-century scholar of Islamic architecture , contributed
5593-656: The 10th to 11th centuries is the development of mausolea , which took on monumental forms for the first time. One type of mausoleum was the tomb tower, such as the Gunbad-i-Qabus (circa 1006–7), while the other main type was the domed square, such as the Tomb of the Samanids in Bukhara (before 943). Turkic peoples began moving west across Central Asia and towards the Middle East from
5712-623: The 15th century. It is categorized by the use of multiple minarets. Examples of this style include the monuments of Mughal architecture in the Indian subcontinent , such as the minarets on the roof of the south gate in Akbar's Tomb at Sikandra (1613), the minarets on the Tomb of Jahangir (1628-1638), and the four minarets surrounding the mausoleum of the Taj Mahal . Elsewhere in India, some cities and towns along
5831-471: The 8th and 9th centuries, the power and unity of the Abbasid Caliphate allowed architectural features and innovations from its heartlands to spread quickly to other areas of the Islamic world under its influence, including Iran. Features from the Umayyad period, such as vaulting , carved stucco , and painted wall decoration, were continued and elaborated in the Abbasid period. The four-centred arch ,
5950-651: The 8th century onward, eventually converting to Islam and becoming major forces in the region. The most significant of these were the Seljuk Turks, who formed the Great Seljuk Empire in the 11th century, conquering all of Iran and other extensive territories in Central Asia and the Middle East. While the apogee of the Great Seljuks was short-lived, it represents a major benchmark in the history of Islamic art and architecture in Iran and Central Asia, inaugurating an expansion of patronage and of artistic forms. Much of
6069-599: The 9th century. Attached to the mosque was a minaret (tower for the muezzin to issue the call to prayer ), the base of which remains, constituting the oldest remnants of a minaret in the eastern Islamic world. The Jameh Mosque of Isfahan , one of the major Islamic monuments in Iran, was originally founded towards 771, but it was rebuilt and expanded in 840–841. It too had a courtyard surrounded by hypostyle halls. It continued to undergo further modifications and additions in subsequent centuries. The only major mosque from this early period to preserve some of its original form
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#17330938909146188-469: The Abbasid Caliphate fragmented into regional states in the 9th and 10th centuries that were formally obedient to the caliphs in Baghdad but were de facto independent. In Iran and Central Asia, a number of local and regional dynasties rose to power by the 10th century: Iraq and central Iran were controlled by the Buyid dynasty , northern Iran was ruled by the Bawandids and Ziyarids , and the northeastern regions of Khurasan and Transoxiana were ruled by
6307-423: The Abbasid period and remains the most massive historic minaret in the world, involving over 6000 cubic meters of brick masonry. The Abu Dulaf Mosque, built near Samarra and finished in 861, has a smaller minaret of similar shape. In the later Abbasid period (11th to 13th centuries), after the Seljuk period, minarets were typically cylindrical brick towers whose square or polygonal bases were integrated into
6426-645: The Eastern Iranian cities such as Bam and Zaranj . Overall, Mohammad Karim Pirnia categorizes the traditional architecture of the Iranian lands throughout the ages into the six following classes or styles ("sabk") : The pre-Islamic styles draw on 3000 to 4000 years of architectural development from various civilizations of the Iranian plateau. The post- Islamic architecture of Iran in turn, draws ideas from its pre-Islamic predecessor, and has geometrical and repetitive forms, as well as surfaces that are richly decorated with glazed tiles, carved stucco , patterned brickwork, floral motifs , and calligraphy . Iran
6545-400: The Great Mosque of Cordoba in 951–952, which became the model for later minarets in the Maghreb and al-Andalus. Jonathan Bloom has suggested that Abd ar-Rahman III's construction of the minaret – along with his sponsoring of other minarets around the same time in Fez – was partly intended as a visual symbol of his self-declared authority as caliph and may have also been aimed at defying
6664-441: The Great Seljuk period is the Jameh Mosque of Isfahan, which was expanded and modified by various Seljuk patrons in the late 11th century and early 12th century. Two major and innovative domed chambers were added to it in the late 11th century. Four large iwans were then erected around the courtyard around the early 12th century, giving rise to the four-iwan plan in mosque architecture. The four-iwan plan quickly became popular and
6783-403: The Khwarazmian Empire period (late 12th and early 13th century), including the so-called Mausoleum of Fakhr al-Din Razi (possibly the tomb of Il-Arslan ) and the Mausoleum of Sultan Tekesh . From the 13th century to the early 16th century, Iran and Central Asia came under the control of two major dynasties descended from the Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan , the Ilkhanids (1256–1353) and
6902-423: The Masjed-e Shah has four. Still, in Persian mosques, tall minarets were considered unsuitable for the call to prayer, and they would add an aedicule, known in Persian as a goldast (bouquet) for this particular purpose, which in the Masjed-e Shah stands on top of the west iwan. The mihrab , a large marble tablet ten feet tall and three feet wide on the southwestern wall, indicated the direction of Mecca. Above it
7021-460: The Muslim call to prayer ( adhan ) from a muezzin , but they also served as landmarks and symbols of Islam's presence. They can have a variety of forms, from thick, squat towers to soaring, pencil-thin spires. Two Arabic words are used to denote the minaret tower: manāra and manār . The English word "minaret" originates from the former, via the Turkish version ( minare ). The Arabic word manāra (plural: manārāt ) originally meant
7140-483: The Seljuk Empire, built paired portal minarets from brick that had Iranian origins. In general, mosques in Anatolia had only one minaret and received decorative emphasis while most of the mosque remained plain. Seljuk minarets were built of stone or brick, usually resting on a stone base, and typically had a cylindrical or polygonal shaft that is less slender than later Ottoman minarets. They were sometimes embellished with decorative brickwork or glazed ceramic decoration up
7259-413: The Seljuk architectural heritage was destroyed during the Mongol invasions in the 13th century. Nonetheless, compared to pre-Seljuk Iran, a larger volume of surviving monuments and artifacts from the Seljuk period has allowed scholars to study the arts of this era in greater depth. Several neighbouring dynasties and empires contemporary with the Seljuks, including the Qarakhanids , the Ghaznavids , and
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#17330938909147378-417: The Shah Mosque as a channel through which they could express themselves with their numerous architectural techniques. The four-iwan format , finalized by the Seljuq dynasty , and inherited by the Safavids, firmly established the courtyard facade of such mosques, with the towering gateways at every side, as more important than the actual building itself. The distinct feature of any mosque is the minaret , and
7497-435: The Shah's desire to have the building completed during his lifetime, shortcuts were taken in the construction; for example, the Shah ignored warnings by one of the architects, Abu'l Qāsim, regarding the danger of subsidence in the foundations of the mosque, and he pressed ahead with the construction. The architect proved to be right, as in 1662 the building had to undergo major repairs. Also, many historians have wondered about
7616-401: The Shah's men had placed a gold-encrusted cupboard of allow wood. It held two relics: a Quran , said to have been copied by Imam Reza , and the bloodstained robe of Imam Hussain . Although never displayed, the robe was said to have magical powers; lifted on the end of a pike in the battle field, the belief was that it could rout an enemy. A renaissance in Persian dome building was initiated by
7735-428: The architectural landmarks in this style are the Teppe Zagheh , near Qazvin . Other extant examples of this style are Chogha Zanbil , Sialk , Shahr-i Sokhta , and Ecbatana . Elamite and proto-Elamite buildings among others, are covered within this stylistic subcategory as well. The "Persian style" (New Persian:شیوه معماری پارسی) is a style of architecture (" sabk ") defined by Mohammad Karim Pirnia when categorizing
7854-416: The authority of 'The King of Kings', the staircases of the latter recording in relief sculpture the vast extent of the imperial frontier. With the emergence of the Parthians and Sassanids new forms appeared. Parthian innovations fully flowered during the Sassanid period with massive barrel-vaulted chambers, solid masonry domes and tall columns. This influence was to remain for years to come. For example,
7973-536: The cities of Khorasan and Transoxiana, including Samarkand, Bukhara, Herat , and Mashhad . Timur's own monuments are distinguished by their size; notably, the Bibi Khanum Mosque and the Gur-i Amir Mausoleum , both in Samarkand, and his imposing but now-ruined Ak-Saray Palace at Shahr-i Sabz . The Gur-i Amir Mausoleum and the Bibi Khanum Mosque are distinguished by their lavish interior and exterior decoration, their imposing portals, and their prominent dome. The domes are supported on tall, cylindrical drums and have
8092-399: The coast have small mosques with simple staircase minarets. The oldest minarets in Iraq date from the Abbasid period. The Great Mosque of Samarra (848–852) is accompanied by one of the earliest preserved minarets, a 50-metre-high (160 ft) cylindrical brick tower with a spiral staircase wrapped around it, standing outside the walls of the mosque. It is the tallest of the early minarets of
8211-502: The colors at once, then fired the tile. Cheaper and quicker, the new procedure allowed a wider range of colors to be used, creating richer patterns, sweeter to the eye. According to Jean Chardin , it was the low humidity in the air in Persia that made the colors so much more vivid and the contrasts between the different patterns so much stronger than what could be achieved in Europe, where the colors of tiles turned dull and lost its appearance. Still, most contemporary and modern writers regard
8330-430: The covered halls of the building, which were later revetted in tiles of cooler, yellowy-green shades. Persian architecture Iranian architecture or Persian architecture ( Persian : معمارى ایرانی , Me'māri e Irāni ) is the architecture of Iran and parts of the rest of West Asia , the Caucasus and Central Asia . Its history dates back to at least 5,000 BC with characteristic examples distributed over
8449-422: The current tower was reconstructed later in 1296. Under the Fatimids (10th-12th centuries), new mosques generally lacked minarets. One unusual exception is the Mosque of al-Hakim , built between 990 and 1010, which has two minarets at its corners. The two towers have slightly different shapes: both have square bases but one has a cylindrical shaft above this and the other an octagonal shaft. This multi-tier design
8568-493: The details of minarets borrowed from Fatimid designs. Most distinctively, the summits of minarets had a lantern structure topped by a pointed ribbed dome, whose appearance was compared to a mabkhara , or incense burner. This design continued under the early Bahri Mamluks (13th to early 14th century), but soon began to evolve into the shapes distinctive to Mamluk architecture . They became very ornate and usually consisted of three tiers separated by balconies, with each tier having
8687-522: The earliest mosques had no minarets and he suggested that the first purpose-built minarets were built for the Mosque of Amr ibn al-As in Fustat in 673. In 1989 Jonathan Bloom published a new study which argued that the first true minaret towers did not appear until the 9th century, under Abbasid rule, and that their initial purpose was not related to the call to prayer. References on Islamic architecture since
8806-466: The early Abbasid minarets were not built to host the call to prayer, but were instead adopted as symbols of Islam that were suited to important congregational mosques . Their association with the muezzin and the call to prayer only developed later. As the first minaret towers were built by the Abbasids and had a symbolic value associated with them, some of the Islamic regimes opposed to the Abbasids, such as
8925-542: The following periods. The pre-Parsian style ( New Persian :شیوه معماری پیش از پارسی) is a sub-style of architecture (or " zeer-sabk ") when categorizing the history of Persian/Iranian architectural development. This architectural style flourished in the Iranian Plateau until the eighth century BC, during the era of the Median Empire . It is often classified as a subcategory of Parsian architecture. The oldest remains of
9044-605: The formation of Islam under the leadership of Muhammad in early 7th-century Arabia . The Arab-Muslim conquest of Persia began soon afterwards and ended with the region coming under the control of the Rashidun Caliphs , followed by the Umayyad Caliphs after 661. Early Islamic architecture was heavily influenced by Byzantine architecture and Sasanian architecture . Umayyad architecture (661–750) drew on elements of these traditions, mixing them together and adapting them to
9163-474: The guiding formative motif of Iranian architecture has been its cosmic symbolism "by which man is brought into communication and participation with the powers of heaven". This theme has not only given unity and continuity to the architecture of Persia, but has been a primary source of its emotional character as well. Available building materials dictate major forms in traditional Iranian architecture. Heavy clays , readily available at various places throughout
9282-668: The history of Persian/Iranian architectural development. Although the Median and Achaemenid architecture fall under this classification, the pre-Achaemenid architecture is also studied as a sub-class of this category. This style of architecture flourished from eighth century BCE from the time of the Median Empire, through the Achaemenid empire, to the arrival of Alexander the Great in the third century BCE This architectural style includes designs from
9401-426: The inside they had central courtyards or a central domed hall flanked by vaulted halls. Some had four iwans flanking a central courtyard. The Sasanian tradition of building caravanserais along trade routes also continued, with the remains of one such structure in southern Turkmenistan attesting to the presence of a central courtyard surrounded by arcaded galleries with domed roofs. After its initial apogee of power,
9520-542: The larger three-dimensional geometric plan. Visual balance could be achieved by alternating one type or pattern of decoration with another between the different subdivisions of the vault. By combining these vaulting techniques with a cruciform plan and by breaking the solid mass of supporting walls with open arches and windows, a strict division between dome, squinch, and wall was dissolved and an endless diversity of elaborate interior spaces could be created. The most significant preserved Timurid monuments are found in and around
9639-473: The late 20th century often agree with Bloom's view that the mosques of the Umayyad Caliphate did not have minarets in the form of towers. Instead of towers, some Umayyad mosques were built with platforms or shelters above their roofs that were accessed by a staircase and from which the muezzins could issue the call to prayer. These structures were referred to as a mi'dhana ("place of the adhān" ) or as
9758-402: The level of their balconies. Ottoman architecture followed earlier Seljuk models and continued the Iranian tradition of cylindrical tapering minaret forms with a square base. Classical Ottoman minarets are described as "pencil-shaped" due to their slenderness and sharply-pointed summits, often topped with a crescent moon symbol. The presence of more than one minaret, and of larger minarets,
9877-592: The light of the Sun, these domes appeared like glittering turquoise gem and could be seen from miles away by travelers following the Silk Road through Persia. Reaching 53 meters in height, the dome of the Masjed-e Shah would become the tallest in the city when it was finished in 1629. It was built as a double-shelled dome, with 14 meters spanning between the two layers, and resting on an octagonal dome chamber. The Masjed-e Shah
9996-414: The minaret merge aspects of Islamic and Chinese architecture . Its circular shaft and the double staircase arrangement inside it resembles the minarets of Iranian and Central Asian architecture, such as the Minaret of Jam. The style of minarets has varied throughout the history of Egypt . The minaret of the 9th-century Ibn Tulun Mosque imitated the spiral minarets of contemporary Abbasid Samarra, though
10115-405: The mosque displays the finest tile decoration in the building. It is entirely executed in tile mosaic in a full palette of seven colors (dark Persian blue, light Turkish blue, white, black, yellow, green and bisquit). A wide inscription band with religious texts written in white thuluth script on a dark blue ground frames the iwan. The tiles in the Masjed-e Shah are predominantly blue, except in
10234-436: The mosque. The number of minarets by mosques was also not fixed: originally only one minaret accompanied a mosque, but some later traditions constructed more, especially for larger or more prestigious mosques. Minarets are built out of any material that is readily available, and often changes from region to region. In the construction of the tall and slender Ottoman minarets, molten iron was poured into pre-cut cavities inside
10353-581: The mosques for which they were built. The tradition of building pairs of minarets probably began in the 12th century, but it became especially prominent under the Ilkhanids (13th-14th centuries), who built twin minarets flanking important iwans such as the mosque's entrance. The rise of the Timurid Empire , which heavily patronized art and architecture, led to what is now called the "international Timurid" style which spread from Central Asia during and after
10472-440: The most common style in the eastern Islamic world (in Iran, Central Asia , and South Asia ). During the Seljuk period minarets were tall and highly decorated with geometric and calligraphic design. They were built prolifically, even at smaller mosques or mosque complexes. The Kalyan Minaret in Bukhara remains the most well known of the Seljuk minarets for its use of brick patterned decoration. The tallest minaret of this era,
10591-650: The northwest, where cold winters discouraged the presence of an open courtyard, as at the Jameh Mosque of Ardabil (now ruined). Another hallmark of the Ilkhanid period is the introduction of monumental mosque portals topped by twin minarets, as seen at the Jameh Mosque of Yazd . Caravanserais were built again, although the Khan al-Mirjan in Baghdad is the only surviving example. The most impressive monument to survive from this period
10710-579: The northwestern city of Qazvin to the central city of Isfahan, he initiated what would become one of the greatest programmes in Persian history; the complete remaking of this ancient city. By choosing the central city of Isfahan, fertilized by the Zāyandeh River ("The life-giving river "), lying as an oasis of intense cultivation in the midst of a vast area of arid landscape, he both distanced his capital from any future assaults by Iran's neighboring arch rival,
10829-644: The oldest minaret in the region of Syria (though its upper section was probably rebuilt multiple times). In Samarra , the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate in present-day Iraq , the Great Mosque of Samarra was built in the years 848–852 and featured a massive helicoidal minaret behind its northern wall. Its design was repeated in the nearby Abu Dulaf Mosque (861). The earlier theory which proposed that these helicoidal minarets were inspired by ancient Mesopotamian ziggurats has been challenged and rejected by some later scholars including Richard Ettinghausen , Oleg Grabar , and Jonathan Bloom. Bloom also argues that
10948-409: The oldest minarets in the world. It has the shape of a massive tower with a square base, three levels of decreasing widths, and a total height of 31.5 meters. The first two levels are from the original 9th-century construction but the third level was reconstructed at a later period. Another important minaret for the architectural history of the region is the minaret built by Abd ar-Rahman III for
11067-553: The patronage of a long succession of rulers . The columned porch , or talar , seen in the rock-cut tombs near Persepolis , reappear in Sassanid temples, and in late Islamic times it was used as the portico of a palace or mosque, and adapted even to the architecture of roadside tea-houses. Similarly, the dome on four arches, so characteristic of Sassanid times, is a still to be found in many cemeteries and Imamzadehs across Iran today. The notion of earthly towers reaching up toward
11186-406: The peculiar orientation of The Royal square (The Maidān). Unlike most buildings of importance, this square did not lie in alignment with Mecca , so that when entering the entrance-portal of the mosque, one makes, almost without realising it, the half-right turn, which enables the main court within to face Mecca. Donald Wilber gives the most plausible explanation to this; the vision of Shaykh Bahai
11305-464: The plateau, have encouraged the development of the most primitive of all building techniques, molded mud , compressed as solidly as possible, and allowed to dry. This technique, used in Iran from ancient times, has never been completely abandoned. The abundance of heavy plastic earth, in conjunction with a tenacious lime mortar , also facilitated the development and use of brick . Certain design elements of Persian architecture have persisted throughout
11424-572: The political and religious authority of the Muslim rulers who built them. The region's socio-cultural context has influenced the shape, size, and form of minarets. Different regions and periods developed different styles of minarets. Typically, the tower's shaft has a cylindrical, cuboid (square), or octagonal shape. Stairs or ramps inside the tower climb to the top in a counterclockwise fashion. Some minarets have two or three narrow staircases fitted inside one another in order to allow multiple individuals to safely descend and ascend simultaneously. At
11543-660: The prominent institutions of the city, such as the residences of all foreign dignitaries, and the Naqsh-e Jahan Square (" Exemplar of the World "). Prior to the Shah's ascent to power, Persia had a decentralized power structure, in which different institutions battled for power, including both the military (the Qizilbash ) and governors of the different provinces making up the empire. Shah Abbas wanted to undermine this political structure, and
11662-594: The recreation of Isfahan, as a Grand capital of Persia, was an important step in centralizing the power. The crown jewel in this project was the Masjed i Shah, which would replace the much older Jameh Mosque in conducting the Friday prayers. To achieve this, the Shah Mosque was constructed not only with vision of grandeur, having the largest dome in the city, but Shaykh Bahai also planned the construction of two religious schools and
11781-427: The recurring elements are iwans and domed chambers. Some of the earlier examples up to the 8th century seem to have had halls with wooden pillars and roofs, while those that probably date to the 9th century seem to have favored domes and vaulted ceilings. They also had stucco decoration executed in the styles of Samarra. Residences built in the countryside were enclosed by outer walls with semi-circular towers, while on
11900-513: The requirements of the new Muslim patrons. After the overthrow of the Umayyads in 750 and their replacement by the Abbasid Caliphate , the caliphate's political center shifted further east to the new capital of Baghdad , in present-day Iraq. Partly as a result of this, Abbasid architecture was even more influenced by Sasanian architecture and by its roots in ancient Mesopotamia . During
12019-758: The rival Fatimid Caliphs to the east who did not endorse the construction of minarets at the time. Other important historic minarets in the region are the Almohad -era minarets of the Kutubiyya Mosque and the Kasbah Mosque in Marrakesh , the Hassan Tower in Rabat , and the Giralda in Seville , all from the 12th and early 13th centuries. The Seljuks of Rum , a successor state of
12138-541: The roundness of the city of Baghdad in the Abbasid era, points to its Persian precedents, such as Firouzabad in Fars . Al-Mansur hired two designers to plan the city's design: Naubakht , a former Persian Zoroastrian who also determined that the date of the foundation of the city should be astrologically significant, and Mashallah ibn Athari , a former Jew from Khorasan . The ruins of Persepolis , Ctesiphon , Sialk , Pasargadae , Firouzabad , and Arg-é Bam give us
12257-532: The second half of the 12th century. Further east, the first major Turkic dynasty was the Ghaznavids , who became independent in the late 10th century and ruled from Ghazna , in present-day Afghanistan. In the second half of the 12th century, the Ghurids replaced them as the major power in the region from northern India to the edge of the Caspian Sea . Among the most remarkable monuments of these two dynasties are
12376-697: The shrine of Bayazid Bastami in the town of Bastam , the aforementioned Mausoleum of Pir-i Bakran, and the aforementioned Tomb of Abd-al-Samad. Also in Bastam, the Ilkhanids built a traditional tower tomb to house the remains of Uljaytu's infant son. Unusually, rather than being an independent structure, the tomb was erected behind the qibla wall of the town's main mosque – a configuration also found in some contemporary Mamluk architecture . The Timurid Empire , created by Timur ( r. 1370–1405 ), oversaw another cultural renaissance. Timurid architecture continued
12495-419: The sky to mingle with the divine towers of heaven lasted into the 19th century, while the interior court and pool, the angled entrance and extensive decoration are ancient, but still common, features of Iranian architecture. A circular city plan was a characteristic of several major Parthian and Sasanian cities, such as Hatra and Gor (Firuzabad). Another city design was based on a square geometry, found in
12614-448: The so-called "beveled" style. This style subsequently spread to other regions, including Iran. Few of the major mosques built during this early Islamic period in Iran have survived in something close to their original form. Remains of a mosque at Susa , probably from the Abbasid period, show that it had a hypostyle prayer hall (i.e. a hall with many columns supporting a roof) and a courtyard. Another mosque excavated at Siraf dates to
12733-401: The stones, which then solidified and helped to bind the stones together. This made the structures more resistant to earthquakes and powerful winds. The earliest mosques lacked minarets, and the call to prayer was often performed from smaller tower structures. The early Muslim community of Medina gave the call to prayer from the doorway or roof of the house of Muhammad , which doubled as
12852-599: The structure of the mosque itself. Their main cylindrical shafts were tapered and culminated in muqarnas cornices supporting a balcony, above which is another small cylindrical turret topped by a dome. Two examples of this style are the Mosque of al-Khaffafin and the Mosque of Qumriyya. Minarets in the Maghreb (region encompassing present-day Algeria , Libya , Mauritania , Morocco , Tunisia , and Western Sahara ) and historical al-Andalus (present-day Gibraltar , Portugal , Spain , and Southern France ) traditionally have
12971-399: The supreme Iranian art, in the proper meaning of the word, has always been its architecture. The supremacy of architecture applies to both pre- and post-Islamic periods. Iranian architecture displays great variety, both structural and aesthetic, from a variety of traditions and experience. Without sudden innovations, and despite the repeated trauma of invasions and cultural shocks, it developed
13090-460: The tile work of the Masjed-e Shah as inferior in both quality and beauty compared to those covering the Lotfallah Mosque , the latter often referred to by contemporary Persian historians, such as Iskandar Munshi , as the mosque of great purity and beauty . The architects also employed a great deal of marble, which they gathered from a marble quarry in nearby Ardestan . The entrance portal of
13209-470: The top of the stairs, a balcony encircles the upper sections of the tower and from here the muezzin may give the call to prayer. Some minaret traditions featured multiple balconies along the tower's shaft. The summit often finishes in a lantern -like structure and/or a small dome, conical roof, or curving stone cap, which is in turn topped by a decorative metal finial . Different architectural traditions also placed minarets at different positions relative to
13328-477: The tradition of Ilkhanid architecture, building monuments once again on a grand scale and with lavish decoration made to impress, but they also refined previous designs and techniques. Timurid rulers recruited the best craftsmen from their conquered territories or even forced them to move to the Timurid capital. Brick continued to be used as construction material. To cover large brick surfaces with colorful decoration,
13447-615: The very end of the Mamluk period during the reign of Sultan al-Ghuri (r. 1501–1516). During al-Ghuri's reign, the lantern summits were also doubled – as with the minaret of the Mosque of Qanibay Qara or al-Ghuri's minaret at the al-Azhar Mosque – or even quadrupled – as with the original minaret of al-Ghuri's madrasa . Starting with the Seljuk period (11th and 12th centuries), minarets in Iran had cylindrical shafts with square or octagonal bases that taper towards their summit. These minarets became
13566-431: Was a huge structure, said to contain 18 million bricks and 475,000 tiles, having cost the Shah 60,000 tomans to build. It employed the new haft rangi (seven-colour) style of tile mosaic . In earlier Iranian mosques the tiles had been made of faience mosaic, a slow and expensive process where tiny pieces are cut from monochrome tiles and assembled to create intricate designs. In the haft rangi method, artisans put on all
13685-536: Was applied to other major mosques around this time, including those of Ardestan and Zavareh , as well as in secular architecture. It was probably also used for madrasas , a new type of building introduced around this time, though none of the Seljuk madrasas have been well preserved. Lodging places ( khān , or caravanserai) for travellers and their animals, generally displayed utilitarian rather than ornamental architecture, with rubble masonry, strong fortifications, and minimal comfort. Large caravanserais were built as
13804-432: Was for the mosque to be visible wherever a person was situated in the maydān. Had the axis of the maydān coincided with the axis of Mecca, the dome of the mosque would have been concealed from view by the towering entrance portal leading to it. By creating an angle between them, the two parts of the building, the entrance portal and the dome, are in perfect view for everyone within the square to admire. The Safavids founded
13923-716: Was now used to cover entire domes and vaults for purely decorative effect. The Tomb of 'Abd al-Samad in Natanz (1307–8), for example, is covered inside by an elaborate muqarnas dome that is made from stucco suspended below the pyramidal vault that roofs the building. Brick remained the main construction material, but more color was added through the use of tile mosaic, which involved cutting monochrome tiles of different colors into pieces that were then fitted together to form larger patterns, especially geometric motifs and floral motifs. Carved stucco decoration also continued. Some exceptional examples in Iran come from this period, including
14042-449: Was only found in the minarets of the great mosques at Mecca and Medina at that time, suggesting a possible link to those designs. Shortly after their construction, the lower sections of the minarets were encased in massive square bastions, for reasons that are not clearly known, and the tops were rebuilt in 1303 by a Mamluk sultan. Under the Ayyubids (late 12th to mid-13th centuries),
14161-609: Was reserved for mosques commissioned by the Ottoman sultans themselves. Taller minarets often also had multiple balconies (known as şerefe in Turkish) along their shafts instead of one. The Üç Şerefeli Mosque in Edirne , finished in 1447, was the first sultanic mosque to have multiple minarets with multiple balconies. Of its four minarets, the northwestern minaret was the tallest Ottoman minaret up to that time, rising to 67 metres. Its height
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