Imam Mosque Isfahan

Imam Mosque, is a mosque in Isfahan, Iran standing in south location of Naghsh-i Jahan Square. Built during the Safavid period, it is an excellent example of Islamic architecture of Iran, and regarded as sensation of the masterpieces of Iranian Architecture. The Shah Mosque of Esfahan is one of the everlasting masterpieces of architecture in Iran. It is registered, along with the Naghsh-i Jahan Square, as a UNESCO being Heritage Site. Its construction began in 1611, and its splendor is mainly due to the beauty of its seven-colour mosaic tiles and calligraphical inscriptions.The mosque is one of the treasures featured on Around the demesne in 80 Treasures presented by the architecture historiographer Dan Cruickshank. The mosque is depicted on the reverse of the Iranian 20,000 rials banknote. 1 History Shah AbbasCopper engraving by Dominicus Custos, from his Atrium heroicum Caesarum pub. 16001602. In 1598, when Shah Abbas dogged to move the enceinte of his Persian empire from the northwestern metropolis of Qazvin to the central urban center of Isfahan, he initiated what would dumbfound 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 Zayandeh River (The life-giving river), lying as an oasis of in disco biscuitse cultivation in the midst of a vast area of arid landscape, he two distanced his capital from any future assaults by the Ottomans and the Uzbeks, and at the same time gained more control over the Persian Gulf, which had recently become an important traffic route for the Dutch and British East India Companies. 2The chief architect of this colossal task of urban be after was Shaykh Bahai (Baha ad-Din al-Amili), who foc usaged the programme on two key features of Shah Abbass master plan the Chahar Bagh avenue, flanked at every side by all the prominent institutions of the city, such(prenominal) as the residences of all foreign dignitaries, a nd the Naqsh-e Jahan Square (Examplar of the World). 3 Prior to the Shahs ascent to power, Persia had a decentralized power structure, in which disparate institutions battled for power, including both the military (the Qizilbash) and governors of the different provinces making up the empire.Shah Abbas wanted to on a lower floormine this political structure, and the recreation of Isfahan, as a Grand capital of Persia, was an important step in centralizing the power. 4 The ingenuity of the square, or Maidan, was that, by grammatical construction it, Shah Abbas would gather the cardinal main components of power in Persia in his own backyard the power of the clergy, be by the Masjed-e Shah, the power of the merchants, represented by the The Imperial Bazaar, and of course, the power of the Shah himself, residing in the Ali Qapu Palace.The crown jewel in this project was the Masjed-e Shah, which would replace the a good deal older Jameh Mosque in conducting the Friday prayers. To ac hieve this, the Shah Mosque was constructed not only with raft of grandeur, having the largest attic in the city, but Shaykh Bahai also planned the construction of two religious schools and a winter mosque clamped at either side of it. 5 Because of the Shahs desire to have the building completed during his lifetime, shortcuts were interpreted in the construction for example, the Shah ignored warnings by one of the architects Abul Qasim regarding the danger of subsidence in the foundations of the mosque, and he pressed ahead with the construction. 6 The architect proved to have been justified, as in 1662 the building had to undergo major rep glorioles. 7 Also, the Persians invented a crude style of tile mosaic (the Seven-colour) that was both cheaper and quicker, and that eventually speed up the construction.This job was masterly done by some of the best craftsmen in the country, and the whole work was supervised by Master calligrapher, Reza Abbasi. In the end, the final touches on the mosque were made in late 1629, few months after the death of the Shah. Also, many historians have wondered about the peculiar orientation of The imperial square (The Maidan). Unlike most buildings of importance, this square did not lie in alignment with Mecca, so that when introduction the entrance-portal of the mosque, one makes, almost without realising it, the half-right turn, which enables the main court inside to face Mecca.Donald Wilber gives the most plausible explanation to this the vision of Shaykh Bahai was for the mosque to be visible wherever in the maydan a person was situated. Had the axis of the maydan coincided with the axis of Mecca, the bonce of the mosque would have been concealed from view by the towering entrance portal leading to it. By creating an tumble 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. 8 Architecture and design The entrance iwan with its toweri ng facade Design the four-iwan styleThe Safavids founded the Shah Mosque as a telephone line 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 courtroom facade of such mosques, with the towering gateways at every side, as more important than the actual building itself. 9 During Seljuq rule, as Islamic mysticism was on the rise and Persians were looking for a new type of architectural design that emphasized an Iranian identity, the four-iwan arrangement took form.The Persians already had a rich architectural legacy, and the distinct find of the iwan was actually taken from earlier, Sassanid palace-designs,9 such as The Palace of Ardashir. Thus, Islamic architecture witnessed the emergence of a new brand that differed from the hypostyle design of the early, Arab mosques, such as the Umayyad Mosque. The four-iwan format typically took the form of a square shaped, central courtyard with large entrances at each side, giving the impression of being gateways to the spiritual world.Painting by the French architect, Pascal Coste, visiting Persia in 1841. The painting shows the main courtyard, with two of the iwans. The iwan to the right is topped by the goldast, which in many Persian mosques had replaced the function of the minarets. Standing in the public square, or Maidan, the entrance-iwan (gateway) to the mosque takes the form of a semicircle, resembling a recessed half-moon and measuring 27 meters in height, the arch framed by turquoise blow up and decorated with rich stalactite tilework, a distinct feature of Persian Islamic architecture.At the sides rise two minarets, 42 meters high, topped by beautifully carved, wooden balconies with stalactites running down the sides. Master calligrapher of the Royal court, Reza Abbasi, carve the date of the groundbreaking of the construction, and besides it, verses praising Muhammad and Ali. 10 In the middle, in front of the entrance, stood a small jackpot and a resting place for the horses, and inside the worshippers found a large marble basin set on a pedestal, filled with fresh water or lemonade.This basin shut away stands as it has for four atomic number 6 years, but no longer serves the function of providing refreshments to the worshipers at the Friday prayers. When passing through the entrance portal, one reaches the main courtyard, centered around a large pool. The two gateways (iwans) on the sides leads ones attention to the main gateway at the far end, the only one with minarets, and behind it the lofty dome, with its colorful ornamentation. The distinct feature of any mosque is the minaret, and 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 s tands on top of the west iwan. 11 The Religious Buildings Interior view of the winter mosque, reinforced as a typical hypostyle mosque. Inside, the acoustic properties and reflections at the central point under the dome is an amusive interest for many visitors, as the ingenuity of the architects, when creating the dome, enables the Imam to speak with a subdued voice and still be heard clearly by everyone inside the building.The mihrab, a large marble tablet ten feet tall and three feet wide on the southwestern wall, indicated the direction of Mecca. Above it the Shahs 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. 12 From the main courtyard, the iwan pointing to east contained a religious school, or madrasa .It contains an inscription by calligrapher Muhammad Riza Imami praising the Fourteen Immaculate Ones (i. e. , Muhammad, Fatimah and The Twelve Imams). The iwan in the western street corner leads to another madrasa and a winter mosque. In its own, private courtyard, one can find the noteworthy sundial made by Shaykh Bahai. The dome As with iwans, the introduction of domes into Islamic architectural designs was done by the Persians. The oldest such building is the Grand Mosque of Zavareh, dating 1135. 13 The Persians had constructed such domes for centuries before, and some of the earliest known examples of large-scale domes in the World are found in Iran, an example being the The Maiden Castle. So, the Safavid Muslims borrowed heavily from pre-Islamic knowledge in dome-building, i. e. the use of squinches to create a transition from an octagonal structure, into a circular dome. To cover up these transition zones, the Persians make rich networks of stalactites. Thus, came also the introduction of this feature into Persian mosques. A renaissance in Persian dome building was initiated by 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 overtop the skyline of the city. Reflecting the light of the sun, these domes appeared like glittering turquoise gem and could be seen from miles away by travelers pastime 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. 14 trick Mosaic detail, as found in the Shah Mosque, showing Quranic calligra phy written in Thuluth script (photo taken at the Lotfallah Mosque). Interior view of the lofty dome covered with polychrome tiles, intended to give the smasher a sense of heavenly transcendence.The Masjed-e Shah was a huge structure, said to contain 18 million bricks and 475,000 tiles, having appeal the Shah 60,000 tomans to build. 15 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 the colors at once, then fired the tile. Cheaper and quicker, the new map allowed a wider range of colors to be used, creating richer patterns, sweeter to the eye. 716 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 w hat could be achieved in Europe, where the colors of tiles turned dull and lost its appearance. 17Still, most contemporary and moderne writers regard the tile work of the Masjed-e Shah as inferior in both quality and beauty compared to those cover the Lotfallah Mosque, the latter often referred to by contemporary Persian historians, such as Iskandar Munshi, as the mosque of great whiteness and beauty. 18 The architects also employed a great deal of marble, which they gathered from a marble quarry in nearby Ardestan. 7 Throughout the building, from the entrance portal and to the main building, the lower two meters of the walls are covered with chromatic marble, with beautifully carved poles at each side of every doorway and carved inscriptions throughout. Above this train begins the mosaic tiles that cover the rest of the building. The entrance portal of the mosque displays the finest tile decoration in the building.It is entirely put to death 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 the covered halls of the building, which were later revetted in tiles of cooler, yellowy-green shades. 16 Facing northwards, the mosques portal to the Maidan is usually under shadow but since it has been coated with radiant tile mosaics it glitters with a predominantly blue light of anomalous intensity.The ornamentation of the structures is utterly traditional, as it recaptures the classic Iranian motifs of symbolic appeal for fruitfulness and effectiveness. Within the cruciate arcades and the balanced iwans, one is drowned by the endless waves of intricate arabesque in golden yellow and dark blue, which conjure the spectator with a space of internal serenity. Architects The architects of the mosque are rep orted to be the following masters10 * Muhibb Ali tapdance (Supervisor of the project, and also the imperial treasurer) * Ostad Shaykh Bahai (Chief architect) * Ostad Ali Beg Isfahani * Ostad Badi al-Zaman Ostad Abul Qasim Measurements The port of the mosque measures 27 m (89 ft) high, crowned with two minarets 42 m (138 ft) tall. The Mosque is surrounded with four iwans and arcades. All the walls are ornamented with seven-color mosaic tile. The most magnificent iwan of the mosque is the one cladding the Qibla measuring 33 m (108 ft) high. Behind this iwan is a space which is roofed with the largest dome in the city at 52 m (171 ft) height. The dome is double layered. The whole of the construction measures 100 by one hundred thirty metres (330 ft 430 ft), with the central courtyard measuring 70 by 70 metres (230 ft 230 ft).