Salmiya

The most interesting tile decorations and muqarnas , or stalactite vaults, are found on the western iwan of Esfahan’s Great Mosque. While all iwans have been added to the Seljuq mosque after a fire pillaged by the Hashashiyyin sect in 1121 CE, their decorations are Timurid and early or even late Safavid (late 15th till early 17th century). Next to the western iwan the pretty famous Timurid gate had been moved and inserted into the façade. It contains signature and date of its creator Sayyid Mahmud-e Naqash, 1447. A similar, highly decorative floral style can be seen on the south iwan and on the Darb-e Imam, some 300 meters west to the mosque, which is dated 1453. The date ۱۳۱۷ (1317) translates into 1939, by the way, when restoration had taken place. The Timurid gate near the western iwan of Masjed-e Jomeh leads to a room with a stunning dated (1310) mihrab of sultan Oljatu, the great Ilkhanid Mongolian ruler in northern Iran. The inscriptions are, according to Oleg Grabar in his...

Kuwait’s Arab Times had attracted my attention to Esfahan’s gorgeous Great Mosque in an article in 2003. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find so far a webpage of the article which praised the wonders of Iran’s largest mosque and one of the most significant and finest buildings of the Islamic world. I visited the site the first time at my second trip to Esfahan in late spring of 2004. I took some pictures in the vast courtyard, soaked the peaceful atmosphere there, and watched the few visitors from Iran and elsewhere. I had forgotten about the many details of the article and faintly had read some of the notes in my travel guide. My second visit in late 2007 was driven by scientific interest. I had recently posted (at Freelance ) my rather amateurish studies and thoughts about a suggested ‘conceptual breakthrough’ in Islamic architecture and art in the late 15th century, i.e., quasi-crystalline tessellations, which had led to world-wide attention due to its publication in the Science magazine...

Being located in the heart of the old capital of the Seljuks, Esfahan’s Masjed-e Jomeh belongs to the most wonderful Islamic buildings in the world. More than 1300 years of Persian history may be studied in its architecture. It is the biggest mosque in Iran. Under the supervision of vizier Nizam al Molk the famous Persian mathematician Omar Khayyam, who lived at that time in Esfahan, planned and constructed parts of the complex. Kufic calligraphy and a more sturdy architecture make Esfahan’s Masjed-e Jomeh so special. It is a mosque like a museum with different parts from eras as far ago as Sasanid Zoroastrians. It is said that the first mosque here was built in the early 8th century which was later enlarged by Abbasid Khalifs. The Seljuks rebuilt the mosque in the 11th century. The two domes over the northern and southern iwans have survived Mongolian storms and time. On the portal of the northwestern iwan of Esfahan's Friday Mosque girih tiles can be found, which have been descr...