The current appearance of the mosque is mainly related to the works of the Seljuk period, but its repairs and additions are related to later periods, especially the Safavid period.
Isfahan– The city of Isfahan, located in the center of Iran, is one of the largest and most ancient historical cities in the country. Due to its importance and special place in Islamic history, it has embraced a large number of Muslim scholars and religious sites and has always been inspiring researchers in this field.
It is not surprising that this city hosts one of the oldest mosques in Iran, the Ateeq Mosque, or the Jameh Mosque of Isfahan, as it is called, which reflects the development of Persian architecture after Islam during the past 13 centuries, and gives the tourist the opportunity to visit a living museum and pass through the tunnel of time with a length of 13 centuries through Walk around this ancient mosque.
List of National Heritage and UNESCO
The ancient mosque or Jameh Mosque of Isfahan was built, which united the villages of the region and formed the basic nucleus for the founding of the city of Isfahan, in the year 156 AH in its current location. It was inscribed in the Iranian National Monuments List in 1932, and also in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2012.
According to archaeologists, an ancient mosque was built on the ruins of another place, which may have been a pre-Islamic Zoroastrian temple in the Sassanid era, and since then civilizations throughout history including the Dilmun, Seljuk, Ilkhanid, Muzaffari, Timurid, Safavid and Qajar, have expanded or restored it until now.
Iwans of the mosque
Ateeq Mosque is the oldest historical building in Isfahan, a huge historical complex with an area of 170 x 140 meters northeast of Isfahan. The Iwan of Umar, the Khwaja Nizam al-Malik Library, the Winter House, and the Gaito Mihrab, each of which represents the path of Islamic architecture in a particular period.
The present appearance of the mosque is mainly related to the works of the Seljuk period, but its repairs and additions are related to later periods, especially the Safavid period. However, excavations revealed artifacts from pre-Islamic times.
From Arabic style to Persian style
Various styles of Persian and foreign architecture were used in the construction of the Jameh Mosque of Isfahan, and the architecture of this building changed in the fifth century AH from the Arabic or concrete style to the Persian style, and for the first time in history it became a mosque with 4 iwans known as Persian mosques (4 iwans on each side of the Mosque courtyard) and this model extended to Muslim countries outside Iran.
And the Ateeq Mosque is the only mosque in Iran that has been registered among the world’s lists, and it has many inscriptions and archaeological texts from the Islamic era in kufic script, thuluth, Naskh and nasta’liq scripts, (one of the main Islamic scripts used in Persian, Urdu, Ottoman Turkish as well as in Arabic, a mixture of Naskh and Commentary scripts). ), which doubled its value and created eye-catching visual sights.
Abdul Reza Kargar, supervisor of the Ateeq mosque, pointed out that this mosque has more than 480 arches (arches), none of which are similar to each other, and there are also columns dating back to the Buyid era that are 1100 years old, as well as the dome of Khwaja Nizam al-Mulk in an ancient mosque, which is the first dome in the world. The globe was changed from a quadrangular dome to a circular dome.
The mihrab of the ghetto
According to Karger, this mosque has 8 entrances and 14 mihrabs, 6 of which are of tiles, 5 of which are of stone and 3 of them are plaster. The “Mihrab of the Gaitu” (the name of one of the Mughal rulers before he converted to Islam and changed his name to Muhammad), which is 700 years old, is considered one of the most beautiful mihrabs carved with ornaments. Gypsum in Iran.
The Jameh Mosque of Isfahan was built of raw clay, but due to the stability and speed of brick construction and other factors, bricks were used in its reconstruction. The mosque was reconstructed in the current era after the Iraqi forces bombed the city of Isfahan in the war between Iran and Iraq in 1985.
In view of the ancient and flourishing of an ancient mosque in the Islamic era, it was and still is a destination for many tourists and travelers, and it was mentioned in many ancient books, including: the book “Surrat Al-Ard” by Abu Al-Qasim Muhammad bin Hawqal, and the book “The Best Partitions in Knowing the Regions” by Shams Al-Din Abu Abdullah Al-Shami Al-Maqdisi, as well as the book “Al-A’laq Al-Nafisah” by Abu Ali Ahmed bin Omar bin Rustah.
The pulse of Isfahan
The ancient mosque is a living example of Iranian and Islamic art and architecture, and in addition to its visual beauty, it is also a symbol of unity and solidarity among Iranian Muslims, because all the post-Islamic Sunni and Shiite governments prayed in it and each played a role in its development and restoration.
And the heart of the city of Isfahan is still beating with an ancient mosque, which has preserved its splendor until now. In addition to the five daily prayers, Ramadan rituals are held in the holy month, such as breakfast tables, episodes of the Noble Qur’an, religious sermons, and the revival of Laylat al-Qadr.
