Photo Gallery

Jamé Mosque (built 1325 onward)

A distinguishing feature of Iranian mosques is the emphasis on tall entry portals, called pishtaq. The Yazd Mosque is a particularly fine example, crowned with two lofty minarets for added effect. The portal is so massive that it nearly collapsed when it was being expanded to its current height in the 15th century, requiring a rather unwieldy buttress to be added to one of its sides (visible in the first photo).

Most Iranian Jamé, or Friday mosques, feature a four-iwan plan with an open courtyard at the center (Jamé mosques are distinguished from regular masjid by their use as places of worship for the community each Friday). A variation on this design peculiar to the Yazd area is the tendency to flank the iwan leading to the sanctuary with long transverse vaults aligned with the axis of the Mosque (image 8). This design technique may have been borrowed from Ilkhanid-era buildings that the founder of the mosque, Shams al-Din Nizami, may have seen in the Tabriz area.

Aerial view

Model of Jamé Mosque located on site.