Gallery
Description
Property Name: Jame Mosque of Yazd
Inventory No: 98-351-1
Date of infill of the inventory form: 2009-12-08
Country (State party): Iran
Province: Yazd
Town:
Geographic coordinates: 31° 54′ 5″ N
54° 22′ 7″ E
Historic Period: 15th century, 2nd half
Year of Construction: 1324-1365, 1470
Style: Timurid, Muzaffarid
Original Use: Mosque
Current Use: Mosque
Architect: Saad Kaduk-e Yazdi
Significance
Jame Mosque is one of the unique historical mosques of Yazd with its tile works, tall minarets, plaster and mosaic faience works and the unique shape of its dome.
Selection Criteria
ii. to exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design
iii. to bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared
v. to be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change
State of Preservation
The Mosque was largely rebuilt between 1324 and 1365. The building of the mosque has sustained heavy damage in recent times, but was restored in 1324 S.H (1945 A.D). The tile work has recently been restored and a new library was built. The mosque’s valuable collection of books and manuscripts is gathered there.
The portal with two lofty minarets was used to emphasis the entrance. However, it is so massive that it nearly collapsed when it was being expanded to its current height in the 15th century. Then it was necessary to add a buttress to one of the sides of the portal. Its facade was decorated from top to bottom in tiles.
References
Hillenbrand, Robert. Islamic Architecture: Form, Function, and Meaning, Columbia University Press, New York, 1994.
Kiyani, M.Y., Memari wa Shahrsazi Iran: Be Riwayat Taswir (Iranian Architecture and Town planning: A Pictorial Record), Hawza-i Hunari Sazman-i Tablighat-i Islami-i Iran, Tahran, 1993.
Kiyani, M.Y., Memari-i Iran dar doreh Islami (Iranian architecture in Islamic period), Iran, Samt, 2000.
Pirniya, M. K., Mimariyan, G. H., Sabkshinasi-i Mimari-i Irani (Stylistics of Persian Architecture) Pajuhandeh, Tehran, 2004.
Pope, Arthur Upham, Persian Architecture, Soroush Press, Tehran, 1976.
Wilber, Donald N., The Architecture of Islamic Iran: The Ilkhanid Period, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1955.
Archnet Website: http://www.archnet.org
Unesco World Heritage Website, http://whc.unesco.org