Blue Mosque of Tabriz

The Blue Mosque was completed around 1465 under the Qara Qoyunlu ruler Jahan Shah and was celebrated for tilework of a quality that gave it the name the turquoise of Islam, with mosaic faience covering the portal, walls and vaults in blues, whites and gold on a scale and refinement rarely matched. An earthquake in 1780 brought down the domes and much of the structure, leaving the portal and lower walls standing, and reconstruction from the 1970s has rebuilt the shell in plain brick with the surviving original tilework left in place, so the building now shows both: patches of extraordinary fifteenth-century mosaic against bare modern brickwork. The contrast makes the loss legible in a way a full restoration would not.

History

The mosque was part of the Muzaffariya complex, endowed by Khatun Jan Begum, who died in 1469, the wife of the Qara Qoyunlu ruler Jahan Shah, who reigned from 1439 to 1467; the complex also held a Sufi convent, gardens, a madrasa, baths and a mausoleum, and only the mosque survives. When the Safavids made Tabriz their capital it served them as a mosque in the first half of the 16th century, and in 1514, after the Battle of Chaldiran, the Ottomans looted Tabriz, the mosque among it (Wikipedia, Blue Mosque, Tabriz).

The main sights

• Surviving original tile mosaic - fifteenth-century faience in blue, white and gold.
• The entrance portal - the best preserved part of the original building.
• Bare rebuilt brickwork - the modern shell around the surviving fragments.
• The tomb chamber - the burial space behind the prayer hall.

When to go

April to June and September to October. One hour. Mornings for light on the portal. It closes at prayer times. Tabriz winters are cold and the interior is unheated.

What to expect

Most of what stands is modern reconstruction and the original tilework survives only in patches, which disappoints visitors who come on the strength of the name. Interpretation is minimal. It is small and an hour is enough.

Nearby

The Tabriz bazaar is a short walk; the Azerbaijan Museum is nearby.

Key facts