Khan Madrasa

🕰️When was it built?

The madrasa was begun under Shah Abbas the Safavid by Allahverdi Khan, and his son Imam Qoli Khan finished it. The entrance inscription carries the name of the architect, Hossein Shamai, and the year 1024 AH (1615). It was added to the National Heritage List in the winter of 1931–32 as number 75.

🏛️What was it built for?

The madrasa was built for teaching and housing students, and its lessons were not limited to law; philosophy, astronomy, arithmetic and the natural sciences were taught here too. The hall above the entrance is known for Molla Sadra's teaching, and the cells were where the school's people lived.

👀What you will see

• The courtyard is about 51 metres long and 45 metres wide, with cells on two floors on all four sides.
• The entrance portal is decorated with muqarnas and tiles, and the entrance passages have mosaic tilework too.
• Wooden girih windows and the skylights above the cell doors are among the restored parts of the building.
• The large hall above the entrance passage was where Molla Sadra taught, and it differs from the living cells.
• The thuluth inscription from the time of Naser al-Din Shah records a repair of the madrasa after its Safavid building.

🎒Good to know before you go

• At the entrance, look at the muqarnas of the portal and the mosaic tiles of the passage separately; two styles of decoration sit side by side here.