Golpāyegān

Golpayegan lies in a fertile valley of western central Iran, between mountain ranges and the plains leading towards Isfahan. Its Friday mosque is a distinguished monument of Seljuk architecture. A large brick dome covers the prayer chamber, whose walls and mihrab bear inscriptions and elaborate brick decoration. A tall minaret stands nearby, rising above the older town.

The mosque was built in the early twelfth century during the reign of the Seljuk sultan Muhammad I. Its inscriptions name both the sultan and the patron Abu Nasr Ibrahim, recording the people who commissioned the building. Over the centuries the mosque underwent changes and extensions, but the domed chamber remained a vivid expression of the architectural skill and religious patronage of Seljuk Iran.