Nāīn

Nain lies on the edge of the central Iranian desert, between Isfahan and Yazd. Its Friday mosque is among the early surviving mosques of Iran, built under the Buyids in the tenth century. Arcades surround its courtyard, and finely carved stucco enriches the prayer niche. The brick minaret rises above the old town, while underground channels carry water to settlement and cultivation in this dry country. Medieval writers placed Nain in the cooler uplands and associated it at different times with the larger cities of Yazd and Isfahan.