Nasir-al-Molk Mosque, Shiraz

Nassir al-Molk Mosque in Shiraz, one of the last religious buildings built in the Qajar period, is an unparalleled example of craftsmanship on behalf of architects and tile and muqarnas makers of that period. Although a rather small building, it has for long attracted the attention of art lovers due to its exquisiteness and skillful combination of different arts within a limited space. In comparison to prominent Iranian mosques, Nassir al-Molk in Shiraz is not distinguished by a particular splendor or grandeur, but rather by its sincerity, beauty and exquisite ornamentations whose at- tractiveness is hardly matched by any historical building of its kind. Nassir al-Molk Mosque has two ivans on the north and south of the main courtyard. The tall northern ivan, the Morvarid (Pearl) Vault, is nearly eight meters tall. The southern ivan accommodating little space is constructed in front of the northern ivan to provide symmetry and to balance the proportions of the building. In the arches surrounding the ivan symmetry is not fully observed yet without harming the overall composition of the southern wing. The mosque has two large prayer halls on the eastern and western wings. The western hall (the summer hall) enjoys distinct beauty and decoration. Twelve large stone columns (in two rows of six) refer to the sacredness of the number 12 among Shiites as it alludes to the twelve Imams. The decoration and spiral carved patterns give the columns an impressive appearance. The 21 spherical domes of the prayer hall delicately transfer their weight on those proportionate columns. It is necessary to mention that the spiral design and the patterns carved on the columns of the prayer hall are inspired by the stone columns of Vakil Mosque in Shiraz. Nassir al-Molk Mosque (also called the Pink Mosque) is a distin- guished example of fine glazed tile-work of late Qajar period where Haft-Rang (seven-colours) glazed tiles are applied to the level of perfection. The main colours of the Haft-Rang tiles are black, white, azure, turquoise, red, yellow and russet. The red colour is particularly dominant in this mosque, such that--according to a contemporary master tile-maker--it reflects pink, red and violet colours during different times of the day according to the sunlight angle.