Neyrīz

Neyriz lies east of Lake Bakhtegan in the dry uplands of Fars. Its great Friday mosque, with a monumental iwan facing the courtyard, is among the oldest surviving mosques of Iran. An inscription dates its mihrab to 973, and the building's vaulted form draws on older Iranian architectural traditions. The town was also the home of the mathematician and astronomer Abu'l-Abbas Fazl ibn Hatim Neyrizi, whose commentaries on Euclid and Ptolemy travelled beyond Persia.

In the Safavid period Neyriz possessed religious schools and continued to support learning. The English traveller Thomas Herbert reported a hospital and medical school there in the late 1620s. In the eighteenth century the town suffered during the campaigns of Ashraf Afghan, and the struggles following the decline of the Zand dynasty again brought war to Fars. Its bazaar, caravanserai and mosques nevertheless remained landmarks of a town situated between the lake basin and the roads of eastern Fars.