Goharshad Mosque

The Goharshad Mosque forms part of the vast Imam Reza shrine complex in Mashhad and is regarded as a masterpiece of Timurid architecture. It was commissioned in the early fifteenth century by Goharshad, the cultured wife of the ruler Shah Rukh, and completed around 1418. A soaring blue-tiled iwan, twin minarets and a turquoise dome enclose a courtyard used for mass prayers. The intricate mosaic faience and calligraphic bands rank among the finest of their era, and the mosque remains an active place of Shia worship.