Nasir-ol-Molk Mosque
Interesting facts
- The stained-glass windows belong to a Persian tradition called orsi, wooden sash frames filled with coloured glass that serve as a source of light rather than as pictures.
- The twelve stone columns of the western prayer hall are carved with spiral fluting, and their number is traditionally linked to the Twelve Imams of Shia Islam.
- The names of the architect Mohammad Hasan Memar and the tile-maker Mohammad Reza Kashi-Saz are recorded in the tilework of the mosque itself.
- Over the main door a marble panel carries a poem by the Shiraz poet Shurideh, recording the founder and the year the mosque was finished.
- The entrance portal is faced with seven-colour haft-rangi tiles painted with roses and irises, flowers closely associated with Shiraz and its gardens.
- On the north side of the courtyard rises the Pearl Arch, a tall iwan whose surfaces inside and out are tiled and whose vault is filled with muqarnas.
- Behind one prayer hall a door opens onto a deep well, with a passage where an ox once walked to haul water up for the mosque.
- The mosque covers about 2,890 square metres, with a rectangular stone pool and fountains set in the middle of its courtyard.
- The architect Mohammad Hasan Memar had already built the Eram Garden, another celebrated Qajar-era landmark of Shiraz, before starting the mosque.
Why it is worth it
The Nasir-ol-Molk Mosque in Shiraz is a building made for one hour of the day. Early in the morning the low sun comes through the stained-glass windows of its winter prayer hall and throws pools of red, blue, yellow and green across the Persian carpets, the columns and the people sitting in the light. For a short time the whole hall seems to be lit from inside a kaleidoscope. It is the image that made the mosque famous far beyond Iran, and the reason visitors arrive at opening time.
The mosque was built between 1876 and 1888 for Mirza Hasan Ali Nasir ol-Molk, one of the aristocratic lords of Shiraz, by the architects Mohammad Hasan-e Memar, Mohammad Hosseini Shirazi and Mohammad Reza Kashi-Saz. It belongs to the Qajar period, and its decoration shows the freedom of that age. Around the courtyard the tiles are painted not only in the classic Persian blues but in yellow, white and an unusual amount of pink and rose, which is why the building is widely known as the Pink Mosque. The effect is warmer and more playful than the sober blue mosques of earlier centuries.
The winter prayer hall on the west side of the courtyard is entered through seven wooden doors worked in geometric lattice. Inside, two rows of six columns divide the space into bays under tiled vaults, and the wall facing the courtyard is filled with coloured glass set in wooden frames. The mosque stands in the old Gowd-e Araban quarter of central Shiraz, close to the shrine of Shah Cheragh, and is still administered by the endowment founded by the Nasir ol-Molk family. It was added to Iran's national heritage list in 1955.
Getting there
The mosque is in the historic centre of Shiraz, the city of poets and gardens in southern Iran. Shiraz Shahid Dastghaib International Airport (SYZ) is about 9 km away. The coloured light in the prayer hall is at its best soon after sunrise.
Plan your visit
We have no confirmed visit data yet. Once it is confirmed, this block also carries the date it was checked.
Nearby places
- Shah Cheragh shrine 0.5 km ยท mosque
- Vakil Mosque 0.7 km ยท mosque
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
The Nasir-ol-Molk Mosque, also known as the Pink Mosque, is a mosque located in Shiraz, in the province of Fars, Iran. Completed in 1888 CE, the Qajar era mosque is located in the Gowd-e Araban district of Shiraz, south of Lotfali Khan Zand Street, next to the Shฤh Chรฉrฤgh Mosque.
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