Khargerd

Khargerd lies in the Khaf district of eastern Khorasan. Its Ghiyathiyya madrasa is a fine example of Timurid architecture, with a symmetrical courtyard, vaulted rooms and elaborate tilework. The school was endowed by Pir Ahmad Khvafi, a vizier of Shah Rukh. Its four iwans and decorated entrance gave a small settlement a building worthy of the great cities of the Timurid realm.

The architect Qavam al-Din Shirazi died before the madrasa was finished. Ghiyath al-Din completed the work, and an inscription at the entrance records the date 1444. An earlier Nizamiyya school at Khargerd was associated with the Seljuk vizier Nizam al-Mulk, placing the village within a much older tradition of patronage of Islamic learning. The later madrasa continued that tradition with the artistic resources of the Timurid court.