Imam Mosque (Shah Mosque)

🕰️When was it built?

Building began in 1020 AH (1611) on the order of Shah Abbas I, and the decoration was finished under Shah Safi. Its architect was Master Ali Akbar Isfahani, and its inscriptions were written by calligraphers such as Alireza Abbasi. The mosque was registered as a national monument, number 107, on 5 January 1932, and with Naqsh-e Jahan Square it is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

🏛️What was it built for?

Shah Abbas built this mosque in memory of his ancestor Shah Tahmasp. Its portal faces north to match the square, but the mihrab must face Mecca; so behind the portal a round vestibule was built that turns the building without the turn being noticed.

👀What you will see

• Around the great 52-metre dome runs an inscription in white Thuluth script on lapis-blue tiles.
• Two 48-metre minarets beside the south iwan repeat the names Muhammad and Ali again and again in banna'i script on their surface.
• The western prayer hall is decorated with seven-colour tiles, and its mihrab is one of the most famous in Isfahan.
• In the southwest school there is a simple triangular stone on the ground, calculated by Sheikh Baha'i, that shows true noon in Isfahan in all four seasons.
• There are seven stone water basins in the mosque; the one in front of the entrance is made of jade and carved with flowers and plants.

💡Something interesting

If you stand in the middle of the southern domed chamber and speak, your voice comes back with a strange echo; it is one of the famous features of this mosque.