Descripción del sitio
This marker is part of an extended History of Islamic Architecture
Herat - Chorasan, Afghanistan
Herat Masjid-i Jamii - Great Mosque
1200, 1498
Ghurid
The present mosque was begun by Ghurid ruler Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad b. Sam (1162-1202) in 1200. In the thirteenth century, Chingiz Khan pillaged the province and the building fell into ruin. After 1397, the Timurid rulers redirected Herat's growth towards the North. the mosque was then rebuilt by Mir Ali Shir Navai -- a prominent poet and minister of Sultan Husain Baiqara (1469-1506) -- in two years beginning in 1498. By the mid-twentieth century, little remained of the Timurid mosque besides pieces of the tile decoration of the two ivans. The actual structure was completely reconstructed. The new, present (1970) mosque corrects the irregularities of the original layout and reconstructs elements (like the mausoleum), which were entirely lost by the 1940s. The tiling has been heavily repaired.
Text and photo Archnet.org
