The Blue Mosque, more formally the Shrine of Hazrat Ali, is the soul of Mazar-i-Sharif and one of the great religious buildings of Central Asia. According to Shia tradition, it holds the tomb of Ali ibn Abi Talib, cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, secretly transported here for safekeeping in the seventh century. The current complex dates from the 1480s, when the Timurid ruler Sultan Husayn Bayqara built it after a local mullah claimed to have located the long-hidden grave.
Every surface is sheathed in tiles that shift between turquoise, cobalt, and lapis as the light changes. Two enormous bulbous domes anchor the complex, with slender minarets at each corner and a broad marble-paved courtyard filled with worshippers, visitors and the famous white doves. Non-Muslims have at times been admitted to the courtyard but not the prayer halls. The shrine is the focal point of Nowruz, when an enormous green banner is raised on the first day of spring and crowds fill the surrounding plaza.