Hamamian Mosque

🕰️When was it built?

The mosque was built in 1909 with the support of Mahmud Agha Ilkhanizadeh, and its builder is thought to have been the master architect of Maragheh. A school later grew up beside the mosque. The building was added to Iran's National Heritage List in 2001.

🏛️What was it built for?

This was more than a place of prayer: the school next to it was built to teach religious students, and the entrance hall was used for villagers' ceremonies and memorial gatherings. The ablution room was built apart from the mosque, on the north-west side, so that preparing for prayer happened in a separate space.

👀What you will see

• The entrance hall has a wooden roof and a low platform; this is where villagers held their ceremonies.
• A small door links the hall to the main space of the mosque, joining two quite different parts of the building.
• The dome is built of square bricks, and the brickwork shapes the detail of its surface.
• The mihrab sits between two windows, and a small window can also be seen deep inside the mihrab itself.
• The remains of the classrooms of the school beside the mosque are another part of this religious and teaching complex.

💡Something interesting

Some of the classrooms of the old school beside the mosque survive. Classrooms, a ceremony hall and a prayer space side by side show the part this building played in village life: one complex for learning and for coming together.

Good to know before you go