The Vakil Mosque is a mosque in
shiraz, southern
Iran, situated to the west of the
Vakil Bazaar next to its entrance.
The Vakil Mosque is a beautiful mosque built in mid-18th century by Karim Khan, Regent (Vakil) and the founder of Zand Dynasty.
It used to be a place for Friday prayer a few years ago. The tile workes in this building is one of the best that shows the art of Iranian tile workers and the painters in the 12th century A.H.
The entrance gates as well as the interior of the mosque are decorated with coloured tiles in beautiful floral patterns.
The Mosque covers an area of 8,660 square meters. It has only two iwans instead of the usual four, on the northern and southern sides of a large open court.
The iwans and court are decorated with typical Shirazi haft rangi tiles, a characteristic feature of the art and industry of
shiraz during the latter half of the 18th century.
Its night prayer hall (Shabestan), with an area of approximately 2,700 square meters, contains 48 monolithic pillars carved in spirals, each with a capital
...see more of acanthus leaves.
The minbar in this hall is cut from a solid piece of green marble with a flight of 14 steps and is considered to be one of the master pieces of the Zand period.
The exuberant floral decorative tiles largely Date from the Qajar period.
The entrance gate of the Vakil mosque is very artistically decorated and is flanked on two sides by the left and right corridors.
From here, you are led to the main room which has an altar. A tall pulpit (menbar) embedded with green marbles will greet your eyes and the speaker has to climb all the way up to sit there and face the people in the mosque.
There has been a lot of renovation work done in recent times to maintain the ancient Vakil mosque.
Improvements have been made to the tile works, lighting systems, plaster works, courtyard flooring and all such other aspects of the mosque to keep it in good condition.
The historic building was registered as national heritage about 76 years ago.
According to Fars Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Department, the stones of the floor and tile-works were renovated, lighting system of the interior was improved, exterior of the nocturnal prayer rooms were renovated and the plaster works were upgraded.
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org
http://www.iranreview.org
http://islamic-arts.org
