If you want to travel to Iran, you should know that mosques built in different periods in our country are among the most significant attractions; but in Shiraz, there is an example of these mosques that have intertwined people and divinity with its colors and lights. It sparkles like a diamond with its pink tiling among Islamic heritage.

The architectural style and detailed intricacy are seen in a few other mosques. It is located in an old region and belonged to Nasir-ol-Molk, the son of Mirza Ali Akbar Khan, the governor of Fars. He started the construction in 1896 AD and it took him 12 years to finish it.

The reason for this mosque’s importance and fame is its Western Shabestan which has seven arches with Orsis (Persian wooden windows). These Orsis are colorful and the glitter of the morning or evening beams creates colorful lights inside the western Shabestan. Another reason for its fame is the type, pattern and color of tiling art in the northern and southern iwans. Also, the positioning of the mosque on an odd-shaped land has given the building its significance. It is located on a trapezium-shaped land but if you look at it from inside, it is completely rectangular-shaped.

The entrance door is made of wood and there is a tablet related to its construction over the door. The door has a stone framework.

• Tips on How to Get Around the Mosque:

After the entrance, we go toward the main courtyard of the mosque by a 90-degree turn.

After passing the ticket stand which is itself an attraction you can see the northern Shabestan of the mosque with its beautiful mosaic and muqarnas (beautiful ornamental elements hanging from the ceilings) on your left. On the right side is the western Shabestan that as stated, is the winter Shabestan, from the colorful windows of which the light beams penetrate inside.

A long iwan is in front of the western Shabestan and next to it is the eastern Shabestan of the mosque that is the summer Shabestan because of its angle and position. There used to be an aqueduct system inside this Shabestan, from which they extracted the underground water with the help of cows.

This mosque has two “iwans”: the northern iwan which is in front of the entrance and the southern iwan. This part was apparently built to create symmetry in the whole building. Anyway, the unique tiling work of the mosque makes a perfect view at your entrance because of the position of the sun.

• Why Such Beautiful Light Reflections?

The reason for using colorful glasses was to fend off insects like mosquitoes and flies which does not have a scientific basis but people have made up these reasons to justify it. Anyway, one of the reasons for using colorful glasses was to decrease the intensity of light. Apart from decreasing the intensity of light, architects could escape the monotony and uniformity of architecture and made buildings like this mosque to have a different look hour by hour.