The Jameh Mosque of Isfahan, Iran - A Thousand Years of Islamic Art (414/418)

The Jameh Mosque of Isfahan, Iran - A Thousand Years of Islamic Art (414/418)

The Jameh Mosque is one of the largest and oldest places of worship in Iran. As early as 100 years after the death of Mohamed, there was an enclosed place of prayer on this spot in the oasis city of Isfahan. The current complex was built in the 10th and 12th centuries. From the Seljuq, through the Timurids, up to the Safavids and to this day, only the best artists and craftsmen of their era have been tasked with further embellishing or restoring the buildings.

In the weak light of the morning sun, the magnificence of the facades, extravagantly decorated with ceramic tiles and stucco ornamentation, can only be guessed at. Then the sun rises over the sweeping clay roof with its cupolas and minarets. Only a few dozen men and women have come to the huge inner courtyard for morning prayer. But in the almost one-thousand-year old domed hall of Nizam al-Molk, a few hundred men will gather for midday prayers and while they prostrate themselves before an ornately tiled mihrab facing Mecca, just a few hundred meters away, something unexpected is happening: in a synagogue - there are four in Isfahan - Jewish faithful read from the Torah. And across the river, in the Armenian quarter, Christians celebrate their bishop's twentieth anniversary. With thirteen churches, Isfahan has been somewhat of a multi-religious city for centuries.