Goharshad Mosque

It was built by the order of Empress Goharshad, the wife of Shah Rukh of the Timurid dynasty, and work commenced in 1418 CE, as part of her extensive renovation program for the shrine of Imam Riza. 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. By the order of Mohammad Reza Shah, the tiles from the ancient dome were removed in the 1960s and the external shell was dismantled. A new external shell was built and the dome was re-tiled. While such repairs were necessary, they permanently altered the historic identity of the mosque. == Architecture ==

Located to the south of the mausoleum, accessed through the dar al-siyadah, the mosque is of the familiar four-iwan courtyard form. The depths of the iwans are irregular, a response to the location of existing buildings within which it was inserted. Covering an area of approximately , the mosque consists of a large azure dome, two minarets, four verandas, a sahn with seven big bed-chambers, and a large altar made of a stony dado and mosaic faience shell. The two round minarets rise from the ground and flank the southern iwan, and was an innovation in Persian architecture as minarets in Iran were previously positioned above the parapet. A blue faience dome was rebuilt with poured concrete in the 1960's, above the southern iwan. The convex part of the dome's shell is decorated with an inscription in the Kufic script. == Gallery ==

Goharshad-mosque-mashhad-IRAN.jpg| Goharshad-mosque-mashhad-IRAN-main.jpg GowharShad Mosque - unknown date - maybe before 1945.jpg Mausoleum of Omar Khayyám.jpg == See also ==