In the centre of the courtyard there is a pool which is square in shape with bevelled corners. The minaret towering above the courtyard, rises to a height of 70m, and the design is thus completely different from the more normal one in which the principal eivan is flanked by a pair of minarets, and draws on an older tradition which can also be seen in mosques in the villages surrounding Isfahan, for example at Barsian, which are contemporary with this.
The purity of form gives a feeling of solidity and strength which is otherwise lacking in Safavid architecture other than in the Sheikh Lotfallah Mosque and to some extent in the late Masjed-e-Hakim. Each of these two mosques present the same awesome strength in different ways, the former through the contrived simplicity of its interior, and the latter though a recapitulation of older seljuk motifs and styles.
North to the entrance to the
mosque
Mosques and
Shrines.
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07-March-95