Masjed-e Jāmé of Isfahan

Twelve centuries of mosque architecture layer the Masjed-e Jāmé of Isfahan, begun in AD 841 and the oldest preserved mosque of its kind in Iran. Across more than 20,000 square metres it brought the four-courtyard plan of Sassanid palaces into Islamic religious building and pioneered double-shelled ribbed domes that inspired builders across the region, its decoration recording over a thousand years of Islamic art. The Friday Mosque was inscribed by UNESCO in 2012.