Masjid-i Tarik Khana

Damghan, Iran

The oldest extant mosque in Iran, the Tarik Khana, or 'House of God' incorporates a simple Arab plan with Sassanian construction techniques. An arcade lines the central courtyard, a single bay deep on all but the qibla side where it increases to 3 bays. The central aisle on the qibla arcade is wider and taller than the others, a form that presciently indicates the later ubiquitous monumental axis of Persian architecture. The arcades, recalling Sassanian precedents, are formed of fired brick arches, elliptical and sometimes slightly pointed, and massive circular brick piers.

Standing together at a distance from the mosque are the remains of a square minaret of uncertain date, possibly part of the original construction period, and a cylindrical minaret from the Seljuk period. The latter is strikingly divided into six zones of ornamentation, each rendered in brick with a different geometric pattern.

Sources:

Godard, André. Art of Iran. New York, Washington: Frederick A. Praeger, 1965.

Michell, George. Architecture of the Islamic World. London: Thames and Hudson, 1978.

O'Kane, Bernard. Iran and Central Asia. In Studies in Persian Art and Architecture. Cairo, Egypt: The American University in Cairo Press, 1995.

Schroeder, Eric. "Standing Monuments of the First Period." In A Survey of Persian Art from Prehistoric Times to the Present, edited by Pope, Arthur Upham and Phyllis Ackerman (assistant editor), Vol. 3 Architecture, Its Ornament, City Plans, Gardens, 3rd ed., 933-934. Tehran: Soroush Press, 1977.