The Imam Mosque (Masjed-e Imam, formerly the Shah Mosque) is the greatest monument of Safavid architecture and one of the finest mosques in the Islamic world. Built between 1611 and 1629, its entrance portal faces the square, but the mosque itself is rotated 45 degrees to align with Mecca — an elegant solution that gives the approach its distinctive bent passageway. The interior courtyard, tiled throughout in intricate blue and turquoise, contains two iwans (vaulted halls) and the main prayer chamber, whose acoustics are extraordinary: a single handclap under the dome multiplies into seven echoes.
Imam Mosque
Masterpiece of Safavid architecture with seven-echo dome
A story
The mosque was built at Shah Abbas I's command in a remarkable hurry — he feared he would not live to see it completed. To speed construction, the architects used seven-brick tile panels rather than the traditional single-tile approach, shaving years off the process. Shah Abbas did see it finished before his death in 1629.