Tarikhaneh Mosque is regarded as the oldest example of its kind in early Islamic architecture: a mysterious space which is ambiguous in every aspect even in the origins of its name. Based on the origin of the word ‘tari’ constituting part of its name, meaning God in Azari language, some translate it to the ‘House of God’. Arthur Upham Pope recorded the name as Tarik-khaneh (the Dark House) but the most accurate mean- ing might date back to pre-Islamic period when most important mosques of today were functioning as fire temples and holy spaces. Hence, the name Narikhaneh or the House of Fire. With its square courtyard used as an open prayer hall, the mosque has a very simple plan: a columned prayer hall on the Kiblah wing and a row of porticos on the other three sides. Lack of luxurious decoration, in common with other outstand- ing Iranian mosques, as well as homogeneity and harmony of the elements used on floors, walls, the ceiling and the whole body of the mosque is very impressive in the first encounter. It is as if this beautiful structure is carved out of a single huge sundried mud-brick. At first glance, the heavy presence of very thick and numer- ous columns in all spaces, gives the building an appearance much different from other mosques of the Islamic period. A study of the initial plan of the mosque shows that 34 columns with a height of 3.5m, a diameter of two meters and a circum- ference of 4.9 to 4.97 meters, were used in the main prayer hall and porticos surrounding the courtyards, of which 8 col- umns on the northern and western wings have later collapsed. The mosque space indicates a move from Sassanid Archi- tecture towards Islamic Architecture on a holy religious site. Although, because of its old age, this mosque has witnessed much transformation and restoration, the remains of elliptical brick arcs (known as Ahang vaults) span the space between columns. Their execution technique is reminiscent of that used in Haft-Tappeh, Susa. The Gahvareh vaults dating back to the Sassanid period clearly show the continuity of the original pre-
Islamic architecture in the structure of the mosque. The thickness of the outer wall of the mosque covering on three sides the prayer hall and the remains of porticos is the same as that of the columns. The wall envelops the mosque whole and is devoid of any decoration making it more appeal- ing to the eye. The research of Andre Godard, the French archeologist, shows that a mud-brick minaret with a square plan was part of the structure of Tarikhaneh, destroyed through history. Since the mosque did not have a dome or a lofty Ivan, this minaret can be considered as the most distinct feature of this mosque differentiating it from other buildings next to it. The high minaret of Tarikhaneh today, is a brick structure with beautiful decoration in form of rhombus and four-leaf flow- er brickwork built on the periphery of the mosque not far from it on the northern wing. The horizontal and vertical arrangement of bricks as well as the presence of brick in the lowest section where the minaret meets the ground are among the distinctive features of this lofty column. The brickwork decoration on the middle of the minaret consists of an epigraph of Koranic verses in Kufic script. The minaret is 26m high and its 86 steps connect it to the Muazzenah (the place from which calls for prayer are made). The circumference of the base measures 13m shrinking as it moves upwards reaching 6.8m on the highest point. The mina- ret is well seen from all parts of Damghan City and beyond, marking properly the position of this small mosque. The con- struction date is estimated at about the time of the Ghaznavids, yet the quality of execution, the rigidity of the structure and the decorations of the outer body of the minaret is more reminis- cent of the Saljukid period. The fact that the minaret is attached to no other structure, the solitude of the building and the way it is built in bricks from the ground up without a mediating ele- ment, adds to the beauty and impressiveness of this annex to Tarikhaneh Mosque.
* Babak Zirak graduated in architecture at Iran National University. He has been director manager for Aran Consulting Engineers company and chairman of some research project and has published more than 42 articles on Iran’s historical architecture and urbanism in professional journals.