Nasir ol-Molk Mosque
Located in the historical district of Shiraz, the city of valuable and memorable tourist attractions, Nasir ol-Molk Mosque, also known as the Pink Mosque is Iran’s most beautiful mosque with no rival in other cities even in Isfahan.
Built upon the order of Mirza Hasan Ali Nasir ol-Molk, one of the lords of the Qajar Dynasty, and designed by professional artists named Muhammad Hasan Memar and Muhammad Reza Kashi Paz Shirazi, the traditional mosque took 12 years to be completed from 1876 to 1888.
What has made the mosque one of the most attractive sites of Shiraz is the unique architecture of the mosque in which amazing tile-mosaic and Moqarnas (stalactite) work in beautiful pink color with delicate layers of gold have been applied, making it to be called Pink Mosque.
Entering through a majestic entrance portal decorated with seven-color tiles and a wooden gate with arabesque embellishments, visitors directly leads to a brick vestibule with a 90- degree turn on the left to get to the main courtyard through a corridor.
The square-shaped courtyard is flanked with two dissimilar Eivans (porches) in the north and south sides and two prayer halls in the east and west sides facing Qiblah (Mecca). The courtyard is centered by a large rectangular stone pool with a stone fountain in its middle showing a beautiful reflection of surrounding walls and structures.
Having three half-arches on three sides adorned with nice polychrome tile-mosaic, Moqarnas work and Panj Kaseh-e (five concaves) design on the middle ceiling, the northern porch outcompetes the southern one with two splendid finials which adds to the beauty of the courtyard.
Inspired by Shiraz Vakil Mosque in terms of stone masonry, the western summer prayer hall is the most important feature of the mosque and one of the nicest prayer halls in all of Iran’s mosques. The walls of the prayer hall have been decorated with tile- and brick-work as well as paintings of rose flower and the ground with turquoise tiles.
Embellished with flower and plants design, the ceiling of the prayer hall has been built on twelve stone columns in two rows representing the Twelve Imams which lead to an extremely dazzling Mehrab (prayer-niche). Also, the hall includes seven wooden doors with colorful glass opening onto the courtyard of the mosque that cast rays of light in various colors particularly in the morning due to the reflection of sunshine, providing an unforgettable scene and making it more beautiful than the eastern winter prayer hall with seven plain columns in a row in the middle.
Visiting this Qajari wonderful masterpiece to have a glimpse on the true ingenuity of professional artists which shines like a jewel is surely worth spending time.
