A modern Twelver Shia shrine just north of the Umayyad Mosque, instantly recognisable from its bright turquoise dome and twin gold-plated minarets. The interior is the real surprise: every surface — walls, ceiling, columns — is covered in tiny mirror tiles set in painted plaster, the same Persian technique used at the great Shia shrines of Iran and Iraq.
The shrine is open to non-Muslim visitors. Modest dress required; women are usually given a chador at the door. The shrine is busiest with Iraqi and Iranian pilgrims during the Shia mourning months of Muharram and Safar. Photographs are usually permitted in the courtyard but not always inside.