Acknowledged as an architechural treasure in its own right Masjed-e Jâmed is a UNESCO listed monument, its spaces and surfaces having been decorated by different ornamental methods belonging to various historical periods.
After having walked in we stopped at a small domed room beyond the ticket office where we were provided with the relevant information regarding the complex, as well as access to a scale model and photographs of the 1970s Italian archeological findings.
We soon walked into a rather dusty and apparently insignificant-looking room, whose pillars did catch my attention because of their different brick plugs, as well as the dome brick designs which I was told dated back to the 10th century, when a small "Arab-style" Mosque was built there on the remains of a fire temple.
Between 1072 and 1092 the huge domed chambers we were then looking at are said to have been constructed, one inside and the other outside the complex. Following a serious attack by the Assassins, the Mosque is said to have been organised according to a four-Ivan plan and then two centuries later extensively redecorated by the Mongol Iljhanids. Some 50 years later the local Muzaffarid are said to have extended the Mosque, bringing the second Seljuk domed chamber into the enclosure.
I was particularly impressed by the subtlety of the coloured brick-work highlighting the arcades and the domes giving them a depth and a mysterious touch to which our eyes had to get accustomed to.
We were speechless the moment we walked into the Nizam al- Molk chamber, whose dome was worth looking at. We were called the attention to the brick Kufic script upon the dome base, whose importance goes beyond the simple fact of being an historical memorial inscription, due to its artistry. What remains of the 10th century plaster-work was probably once richly painted.
(To be continued)
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