Oct 00 - Alabaster-pane skylight, one of several, viewed from below in the subterranean prayer hall of the Jame mosque (@ 960 A.D., Buyid), Na'in, Yazd prov.

The JAME MOSQUE of NA'IN (Buyid, late 10th cent, early 11th.):

- This mosque is duly famous as it's one of the oldest in the country. (I read that it's the 2nd oldest after the Tari-Khaneh in Damghan, but the internet variously claims that it's the 3rd or 4th.) While it dates to the late 10th cent. and the reign of the Buyid dynasty, it includes some earlier remnants, and of course later additions with renovations. It's also renowned for its extensive and unusual carved stucco-work, "the richness [of which is the] chief glory of this mosque", adorning the mihrab and surrounding bays, the soffits and columns of the prayer hall, "including the oldest extant epigraphic friezes in Iran". Stylistically the stucco-work bridges the styles and patterns of the Sassanian and Abbasid periods with those of the Seljuk era; "effusive floral forms released from earlier geometric constraints" ("although the use of stucco to conceal rather than reveal architectural structure relates more to the earlier periods" [AOTIW]). I remember the pillars near the mihrab that were densely coated in a vineyard's-worth of tiny bunches of grapes in stucco between leaves and flowers. Those pillars and the dense plaster-work on other surfaces and the brickwork, while busy, give a whimsical, folk-art impression, but also one of great antiquity. I stared at and took in every detail, as is my wont.

- "The mosque comprises a hypostyle hall of irregular configuration surrounding a small, rectangular courtyard. ... The qibla axis is emphasized by angled piers, and by the slightly increased width and height of the central nave, forming a lip which projects above the arcade roofline. This structure represents an emergent form of the monumental portal that would later [become characteristic of] Iranian mosque design." This mosque lacks a dome and predates or eschews the emergence or re-emergence of the 4-eivan plan (with its Sassanian roots) soon to become ubiquitous in mosque design in Iran and Central Asia. According to Wikipedia, it was built in the 'Khorasani' architectural style, which is simple and symmetrical on an Arabic plan, includes a nave or 40-column space, and makes use of geometric shapes, symmetrical patterns, floral motifs, and calligraphy in its decoration.

- The subterranean 'shabestan', popular in the hottest days of summer and the coldest in winter, was very atmospheric. (See the photo in the comments below.) I was most impressed with a collection of colourful, translucent alabaster skylights, one of which you see in this photo. See in this vlog (a leisurely tour of the mosque) that someone's broken into the qanat or tunnel below the shabestan at the 11:22 min. pt. (It wasn't me.) youtu.be/mDo5AkVFXDw?si=_2WeC68nQMuomeV9 See 3 of the skylights (but not this one, and less washed out than in my photo) from the 12:35 min. pt. to 14:50.

- The simple minaret, again the oldest extant in Iran, "represents a transition from the square minarets of the Western Islamic world www.flickr.com/photos/97924400@N00/8315139427/in/photolis... to the later 11th and 12th cent. [cylindrical or round and tapering] minarets of Iran." Maintaining the early square plan at the base, a tall tapering octagonal mid-section rises to a short cylindrical shaft terminating in a cornice decorated with carved stucco. The cornice holds a brick railing, forming a balcony on which stands a thin cylindrical cap, pierced with apertures and resembling a dovecote. Later additions enclose the minaret which was originally freestanding. The transitional form of this minaret, and its simple, relatively unadorned state suggest that it dates from the late 10th and early 11th cent.s." (All Archnet and AOTIW)

- youtu.be/NnshwSCWihU?si=VnRJUq4Sa4OVF7Oi

- www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nYx_8Jf9Bw

 

- "In general, ancient alabaster is calcite in the wider Middle East, including Egypt and Mesopotamia, while it is gypsum in medieval Europe. ... When cut into thin sheets, alabaster is sufficiently translucent to be used as panes in small windows, as it was in Byzantine churches and later in medieval churches, primarily in Italy. ... Calcite alabaster ... is found as either a stalagmitic deposit from the floor and walls of limestone caverns, or as a kind of travertine, similarly deposited in springs of calcareous water."

 

- youtu.be/xl0PPntj0X0?si=qXF6Rm3BOMF3ERP3

 

 

More re the nature of memory.:

I wrote the following paragraph in a comment on the last photo a couple of years ago.

"- I toured a ghost town [rather 2 or 3 blocks of derelict bldg.s] near and just SE of the mosque with adobe houses with collapsed walls, pointed arches, elaborate niches and alcoves and such inside, at the start of a bit of an aimless but magical walk that I took for a few hours or so from here. Judging from google maps it seems I walked into and along through Mohammadiyeh. I recall an exotic, adobe-built community with more badgirs and ab-anbars and a time-capsule quality. www.google.ca/maps/place/%D8%A2%D8%A8+%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%A8%... (I get the impression from the net that the area's become much more touristy since I was there.)" So I remembered how impressed I was with Mohammadiyeh as an exotic stitch in time, but in looking through the photos I took there for the first time in a decade or so just now, I see one big reason why I was impressed with the place, and which I'd forgotten when I wrote that comment. The sunny town of adobe bldg.s, badgirs, etc. spreads out below a mesa topped by another incredible adobe citadel with corner towers, the sprawling, MOHAMMADIYEH or ASHOURGAH CASTLE (with Sassanian foundations), lofty (with walls 16 m.s tall) and looming in a scene from the Arabian nights. That pile is another of the type I've been noting as "big misses" in lists of sites and sights en route, etc. as I write about Iran and this trip. (I guess you might remember your state of mind at a given moment and your impression of something better than the basis for it. That's something interesting in itself.) I experienced and explored the town as I walked through it from the south to the north towards the castle like an iron filing to a magnet, and hiked up to and all @ it as is my wont. One interesting photo taken within is of an arch on a high, intact wall with a window and a huge, antique urn beneath it, on its side but intact, the type you see in museums in Iran. But the best thing to see at this castle is the view.

- I took a photo in the town itself of a series of spray-painted stencils like this www.flickr.com/photos/97924400@N00/2992288243/in/photostr... with images of the faces of Iranian men killed in the Iran-Iraq war.

- I can't find much information re the history of Mohammadiyeh's huge, ancient pile online, while the 2,000 yr. old pile in Na'in has a Wikipedia entry only 2 lines long. Iran has such an embarrassment of riches in the great abundance of ancient adobe castles and mud-brick ghost towns in this region that they don't even bother to make up legends about most of them, or share them with foreigners.

 

 

Misses in Na'in and Mohammadiyeh:

- The Bazaar: It's interesting and photogenic (from what I see on google maps), said to be 700 yr.s old, 400 m.s long, with 170 shops.

- The Pirnia House (Safavid) / Kavir Ethnographic museum, with handicraft exhibits, hand-looms, mannequins simulating performance of craft-related tasks, huge urns, and sgraffiti, stenciled plasterwork and beautiful muqarnas vaults on the ceilings, etc. It's handy to the mosque, but wasn't open in 2000.

- The Fatemi House (Qajar), another mansion with some lovely latticed windows and muqarnas ceilings.

- The ancient Baba Abdullah mosque (@ 1300, Ilkhanid) built with brick with its simple but lovely dome. Not overly renovated at all, and filled with ancient features.

- Chehel Dokhtaran Hussainiya (Qajar, @ 1811): There are several Hussainiyas in town (facilities with courtyards used during Ashura) and this, which is in the bazaar, has a nice white and blue eivan at least.

- The Imamzadeh Soltan Seyyed Ali has a very colourful and unusual dome exterior. The Safavid dome is 22 m.s in height from the ground level. A miss for the photo.

- "Traditional pit workshops", the 'Abafafi workshops' in dug-outs in Mohammadiyeh where camel-hair cloaks "worn by the [local] Muslim clergy" are woven, and which are now a tourist attraction.

- مسجد سرکوچه محمدیه , a very intimate, visibly ancient adobe mosque in Mohammadiyeh. A miss for a photo of the band of ancient, trippy calligraphy. www.google.ca/maps/place/%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AC%D8%AF+%D8%B3%... According to one site online, this is Mohammadiyeh's Jame mosque, and dates from the reign of the Buyids in the 10th cent.

- The Rigareh water-mill, an ancient mill at the bottom of a step tunnel at qanat level.

 

- Misses in the vicinity of Na'in and Mohammadiyeh:

- قلعه برج تاریخی روستای خانه سنجد , a round, intact tower atop a hill @ 30 km.s SW of Na'in, @ 5 W-SW of Akbarad,

- Nujuk, @ 1 km. NW of the 62 and @ 1.5 NW of Amirabad is home to a small but visibly ancient, adobe caravanserai with a well-preserved exterior.

- Blabad is just south of the 62 @ 20 km.s SW of Na'in, and it's too bad there's nothing to see there as it would be fun to say "It happened in Blabad".

 

 

- From Na'in or Mohammadiyeh I caught a bus in the mid-to-late afternoon, and with anticipation I set out to travel 167 km.s (or a little less, see below) further SE down the 71 towards Yazd, my destination.

 

Misses en route from Na'in to Yazd:

- Bafram, a town 4 km.s SE of Na'in, has its own massive, (very) wide, looming, sprawling adobe castle that dominates the town, which needs to be explored, and another ancient Jame mosque (Seljuq) with an impressive but simple minaret, with a Sassanian ateshkade at its core or its base

- The Nogonbad Caravanserai (Safavid), two caravanserais rather, side by side right by the 71 @ 30 km.s SE of Na'in, both built of mud-brick, sprawling, square, semi-intact and very impressive with large corner towers and much brick-work. A very photogenic, round tower stands @ 150 m.s further back from the road.

- Yaqmish caravanserai, @ 40 km.s SW of the 71 as the crow flies from a pt. @ 40 kms. SE of Na'in, is an intact, lone bldg. in the desert

- Aqda, a city on the 71 @ 60 km.s SE of Na'in, "founded by one of the military commanders of Yazdegerd I [r 399-420]" (Wikipedia), is lovely with its townscape of terraces, domes, pointed arches and badgirs, all in the same adobe hue as seen in this episode that vlogger Ali A. devotes to it.: youtu.be/PTW6plcaZzE?si=e3Ph-ppL7DUjXhoY Sites and sights include the intact, adobe city gates; the tall, square, adobe Khajeh Nemat watch-tower, with its double walls and secret escape tunnel; the Jame mosque; the Rashti caravanserai, etc. I've read that the legendary 'Fire of Bahram' (the 'Fire of the Priests' which burned at Kariyan in Fars, with its origins in Khwarazm, possibly the holiest thing in the Sassanian world, was brought to Aqda from Kariyan during or shortly after the Islamic conquest, and was sustained there until it was taken to Ardakan in 1174, and then to Yazd in 1474 (where I saw it behind glass). I've read a contradictory or more specific history that the fire was taken to the 'Eshkaft cave' "/b/ Aqda and Pars Bano" where it burned for 30 yr.s, it was then moved from village to local village for safe-keeping and maintenance for @ 200 yr.s, and was moved to Ardakan (see below) or to Turkabad near Ardakan, which became a Zoroastrian centre and where the fire was kept for 300 yr.s ... (a rabbit-hole). gopersis.com/zoroastrians-fire-temple/

- Arjenan caravanserai, @ 5 km.s SE of the 71, 15-20 km.s due west of Ardakan, has a large ancient tower with impressively preserved brick-work.

- Nedushan is another timeless town with a collection of interesting ancient bldg.s, incl. a mosque with a tall brick minaret, a large adobe castle in town, a stone castle atop a hill, the 'Charbar tower', mud-brick and adobe city gates and towers, brick, domed and tiled domes galore, strangely wide badgirs, etc. The photos of it on google maps are of a town 90% from a timeless alternate reality. According to Wikipedia, "[h]istorically, many of the inhabitants are believed to [have been] Zoroastrians." A big miss.

- The entrance to Sar-Khoun cave is somewhere close to Nedushan, a wet cave with photogenic bits. The Nabati cave (which might be the same cave?), equally wet and photogenic, is 50 km.s SW of the 71 at a pt. just below Meybod.

- The 'Stone-Trough' @ 10 km.s east of Nedushan, is a series of green, colourful and photogenic limestone pools in a rift comparable (but smaller) to Huanglong in Szechuan and Pammukale (although much of the "trough" looks like melted ice cream).

- مزرعه عروسک ها ,a fun collection of @ 100 anthropomorphic assemblages of bags, clothes, pillows, etc. to create facsimiles of people, by the side of a road @ 15 km.s N-NE of Ardakan.

- The 71 passes an oval roundabout /b/ Turkabad and Ardakan with a statue of a yellow cheetah on it.

- The city of Ardakan is a large one in an urban conglomerate of towns or cities that blend from the north to the south and that the 71 skirts with a sharp turn south 5 km.s before Turkabad and 10 before Ardakan, etc. This area was and remains important to Zoroastrians. The legendary sacred 'fire of Bahram' from Kariyan, the Azar Faranbagh, was allegedly brought to Ardakan or to Turkabad (?) from Aqda (see above) in 1174, according to one version of events, where it was tended to and burned for @ 300 yr.s before it was then taken to Yazd (in the 15th cent. or in 1775?) as written about here.: fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%d8%a2%d8%aa%d8%b4%da%a9%d8%af%d9%8... Where was it kept in town? (See my write-up for the next photo taken in Yazd for more re the history of the Azar Faranbagh.)

 

- Sharifabad, ancient Shariabad, a neighbourhood of Ardakan (which I've read was home to the sacred Azar Faranbagh fire from Kariyan from 1174 or thereafter), is just east of the 71 as it passes through Ardakan, and has a lengthy Wikipedia entry. "Sharifabad is a Zoroastrian centre, home to numerous Zoroastrian holy sites [incl. a "famous" ateshkade]. Every summer, thousands of Zoroastrians from around the world gather here on pilgrimage." Anthropologist Mary Boyce described the village as "a Persian stronghold of Zoroastrianism."

 

- The ancient city of Meybod! Just NE of the 71 and 30-40 km.s NW of Yazd, the city is proposed for designation as 'World Heritage' by Unesco in Iran's tentative list. Home to the huge and awesome, adobe, 2,000 yr. old Narin castle (not to be confused with this castle with the same name [?]), and a wonderful dovecote, the city is known for its city planning.

 

 

- دخمه اله آباد DAKHME in ALLAHABAD Rural District (Zoroastrian): A dakhme (a 'Tower of silence') seen from the bus window en route to Yazd, then promptly disembarked and explored late at dusk and just after dusk before walking into the city.: www.google.com/maps/place/Zoroastrians+cellar+Allah+Abad+...

 

Done