Isfahan · a Light

Isfahan's great mosque sits at an angle to its square

Shah Abbas began laying out the Naqsh-e Jahan square in Isfahan in 1598. It measures roughly 160 by 510 metres, and the stone goalposts of the polo ground are still standing at either end. Three buildings and a bazaar gate open onto it. The problem the architects had was that the square is aligned to the city and the qibla is not. Their answer is visible from the air: the portal of the Shah Mosque sits square with the plaza, and behind it the entire building swings about forty five degrees to face Makkah, the turn taken up inside a short vestibule. The smaller Sheikh Lotfollah mosque, built for the court, does the same trick and has neither minaret nor courtyard.

Isfahan, Iran · begun 1598