Goharshad Mosque Explained

Building Name:Goharshad Mosque
Location:Mashhad, Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran
Map Type:Iran
Map Relief:1
Coordinates:36.2874°N 59.6147°W
Religious Affiliation:Shia Islam
Architect:Ghavameddin Shirazi
Architecture Type:Jameh Mosque
Architecture Style:Timurid
Administration:Astan Quds Razavi
Founded By:Empress Goharshad
Year Completed:1394-1395
Dome Quantity:1
Dome Height Outer:43 meters
Minaret Quantity:2
Minaret Height:43 meters

Goharshad Mosque (Persian: مسجد گوهرشاد) is a grand congregational mosque built during the Timurid period in Mashhad, Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran, which now serves as one of the prayer halls within the Imam Reza shrine complex.

History

It was built by the order of Empress Goharshad, the wife of Shah Rukh of the Timurid dynasty in 1418 CE.

The double-layered dome of the mosque was severely damaged in 1911 in bombings by troops of the Russian Empire. In the 1960s, the dome of Goharshad mosque was deemed to be in severe structural danger, damages caused by various earthquakes over time, the 1911 Russian bombings, and the attack on the mosque by Reza Shah during the 1935 rebellion required the dome to be rebuilt. Under the imperial orders of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the tiles from the ancient dome were removed in the 1960s and the external shell was dismantled. A new external shell was built. The dome was re-tiled. While such repairs were necessary, they permanently altered the historic identity of the mosque.

Design

Arthur Pope, a scholar of Persian architecture, described the mosque in 1965 in these terms:

See also

External links