Mosque of Sheikh Lutfallah

The mosque of Sheikh Lutfallah , or Masjid-i Sadr , or oratorical of the Shah is a raised religious building with Ispahan at the beginning of the 16th century, under the reign of the Safavides. It is about the first mosque set up in this city by Safavides, before the Mosquée of the Shah. Its building site lasted a long time, sixteen years according to the sources, and two dates are registered in the decoration: 1616 on the dome and 1618 in the Mihrab. Its principal architect is Muhammad Riza ibn Husayn and the calligrapher Ali Riza-i Abbassi, whom it is necessary to distinguish from the famous painter, calligrapher and draftsman Riza 'Abbasi active at the same time.

Plan

The plan of the mosque of Sheikh Lutfallah is rather not very banal. It consists of a room of prayer entirely under dome which one reaches by a long dark corridor out of baffle leading to a large gate. The absence of court is very remarkable because exceptional. Its other characteristic is the absence of minaret, useless since only the royal family had access to this mosque.

Decoration

The decoration of this small mosque, which really seems to have been used as oratory for the sovereign rather than of place of public prayer, is carried out with skirtings of marble yellow rather low and glaçurée ceramics. In the mosque, it is the blue which dominates, with additions of green, yellow, red and turquoise, but outside, on the dome, one notes the use of a very particular pallet, with a predominance of the yellow which exists only in this building at this period and could perhaps recall the dome of the tomb of Ismail Ier to Ardabil.

The interior decoration of the Coupole is remarkable by the use of the light coming from the outside, whose reflection on the cupola traces the tail of a peacock, Persan royal emblem, but whose figuration (like any other animal or man) was prohibited in a mosque.

External bonds

Mosque of the Sheik Lutfallah/Masjed-e Sheikh Lotf-o-llah/Masjid-i Sadr/مسجدشیخلطفال - Ispahan, Isfahan, Espahan, Esfahan/اصپهان or اصفهان, photographs

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