Iran is known as the country of domes and turquoise tiles. When we look at the turquoise and azure domes of the mosques of this ancient land, it is as if the turquoise jewels are engraved all over this land. The beauty of Yazd congregational Mosque is of this kind.
One of the most important historical monuments of the post-Islamic period in Yazd is the Yazd Jame Mosque. This mosque, which is more than 900 years old, is one of the most important historical attractions in Iran. Yazd Jame Mosque was built in the 12th century, but its completion, restoration, and reconstruction continued until later centuries.
History of construction of Yazd Jame Mosque
The current Jame Mosque of Yazd is actually a total of three mosques that have been located next to each other for centuries. Finally, during the Qajar period, these three mosques became a single mosque with a large courtyard. In the following, we will introduce these three mosques, which are related to three different historical periods.
Old Mosque
The first mosque, also known as the Atigh Jame Mosque, was built in the ninth century AD during the reign of the Saffarids with a nave design. It is said that this mosque was built on a fire temple belonging to the Sassanid period and by the direct order of Amr ibn al-Layth.
Old Jame Mosque
The second mosque, also known as the Old Jame Mosque, was built in the 12th century. The old Jame Mosque was built on the west side of the Old Mosque and had a vault and one or more porches. Later, a nave and a mausoleum were built next to this mosque. But over the past two centuries, many parts of the old Jame Mosque have been destroyed due to renovations.
New Jame Mosque
But the third mosque, or New Mosque, was built in the fourteenth century behind the Qibla of the old Jame Mosque by Seyyed Rokn al-Din Muhammad Ghazi, a religious scholar, mystic and famous judge of Yazd.
The new Jame Mosque had a small courtyard and a very large dome and porch. Maxim Siro, a French architecture expert and one of the first professors at the Faculty of Arts at the University of Tehran, believes that the building was originally part of a four-porch mosque that was not completed and was abandoned.
Reconstruction and development
These three mosques have been renovated, restored, and renovated many times throughout history. In 1406, the decoration and tiling of the New Jame Mosque were continued. In the following period, the western nave was built and the western entrance of the mosque was completed.
During the reign of Amir Chakhmaq, and precisely in 1422 AD, the renovation of the Atigh Jame Mosque began, which lasted until 1442 AD.
In the early Qajar period, more attention was paid to these three mosques. The result was the destruction of many parts of their buildings. However, the purpose of these destructions was to create a single mosque that still stands as the Yazd Jame Mosque, but it led to the destruction of parts of the mosque’s history.
In the middle of the Qajar period, the eastern nave, the tall minarets of the entrance, the back of the vault and the main entrance porch were restored. Yazd Jame Mosque suffered a lot of damage after the Qajar period until it was repaired and rebuilt in 1945 by one of the elders of Yazd.
Important features of the Jame Mosque
According to experts, the mosque was built in the style of “Azeri” architecture. Azeri style is an architectural style that is also known as Iranian-Mongolian and has been very popular in Iran since the Ilkhanate era.
The dome of Yazd Jame Mosque has two shells with an outer layer diameter of 17 meters. The minarets of the Jame Mosque, 52 meters high and 8 meters in diameter, were built by the Safavid minister. These minarets collapsed in 1934 and were rebuilt again. The entrance of this mosque, with its two minarets, is one of the tallest entrances to the ancient Iranian mosques.
The mosque is illuminated by the indirect light reflected from the white plaster of the dome and the walls that is a clever way.
Recent Comments