Isfahan’s Friday Mosque has been inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, making it the 14th Iranian site registered on the roll.

The independent, 21-member World Heritage Committee announced the news during their 36th session in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Isfahan’s Friday mosque is the oldest preserved edifice of its type in Iran and a prototype for later mosque designs throughout Central Asia.

Also known as Atiq Mosque, the building is the first Islamic structure that adapted the four-courtyard layout of Sassanid palaces to Islamic religious architecture.

Its double-shelled ribbed domes represent an architectural innovation that inspired builders throughout the region.

The beautiful structure illustrates the evolution of mosque architecture since 841 CE when it was first founded.

The building includes architectural features of different historical periods including Qajar, Ilkhanid, Safavid and Seljuk eras.

The World Heritage Committee is also set to consider the inscription of Iran’s Gonbad-e Qabus brick tower during its 36th meeting which will run until July 6, 2012.

Armenian monastic ensembles of Iran, Bam and its cultural landscape, Bisotoun, Naqsh-e Jahan Square, Pasargadae, Persepolis, Sheikh Safi al-din shrine, Shoushtar historical hydraulic system, Soltaniyeh, Tabriz historic bazaar complex, Takht-e Soleyman, Tchogha Zanbil and the Persian garden are the other Iranian properties inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
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News ID 182032