Agha Bozorg Mosque, Kashan

Agha Bozorg Mosque, Kashan

Agha Bozorg Mosque in Kashan
The construction of the Agha Bozorg mosque and school (theological school), began about 200 years ago by the architect Haj Sha'ban, thanks to the investment of Haj Mohammad Taghi Khanban, and was completed in 1884. 

The name of Agha Bozorg mosque derives from the first imam jama'at, the Mullah Mahdi Naraghi, who was called Agha Bozorg (the wise man) by people. Imam jama'at is the clergyman who stands in front of the crowd when saying prayers in a mosque.

Agha Bozorg complex is built in the style of Isfahan Chaharbagh school in the old part of the city of Kashan, near the mausoleum of Khaje Taj Al-Din, in a neighborhood that bears the same name, on the ruins of a building belonging to the 15th century.

The Agha Bozorg mosque, which is only five stories high in the Islamic world, is anti-seismic, and the material used to build the mosque was made with the same earth dug in the place of its construction. Two platforms have been designed on the sides of the entrance door of this mosque. The main door that is decorated, is 180 years old. 6666 nails -equal to the number of verses of the Qur'an- are used to design thid magestic door. Two verses from a Sa'di poem are also written on both door handles.

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The entrance of Agha Bozorg mosque is octagonal and ends in the central courtyard with two covered and wide corridors. In the center of each corridor is a courtyard. The square-shaped central square was built roughly in the north-south direction, its floor is covered with bricks and have a polygonal tub in the middle and four small gardens in the corners. 

The rooms of the Agha Bozorg madrese were built from the height of a staircase higher than the floor of the lower court. Twelve rooms across four side corridors lead to the courtyard and each has a closet. 

Four stone steps on the four sides of the courtyard, connecting the lower part to the upper part and another staircase in the middle of the north wing give access to the cellar. The latter, through horizontal and vertical aerators, brings air to two ventilation towers located in two sections of the shabestan (colonnade prayer room) located in the north and which ventilates it as well.

Agha Bozorg mosque has three Shabestan with perimeter corridors, a brick dome and two tiled goldasteh (open space placed on the highest point of the minaret) and a row of spiral staircases that revolve around the axis in the center and inside goldashteh, connecting the roof of the mosque to the terminal part. The dome is built on eight large bases and is three-layered. The perimeter of the largest circle of the dome is 50 meters and the height of the roof top of the mosque is about 18 meters. 

In winter people shoveled the snow deposited on the outer space and threw it into the yard. Here was a well where the snow was finally thrown.

Around the Mihrab (niche on the wall of the prayer hall and indicating the direction of Mecca) of Agha Bozorg mosque, there is a cement epigraph. Above the Mihrab, a channel has also been created for greater acoustic resonance of the voice of the one who directs the prayer.

In the winter residence of Agha Bozorg mosque, marble stones were used to illuminate the lower rooms with the reflection of sunlight. The decorations of this mosque and madrasa are made of stucco, paintings, woodwork, muqarnas, tiles and etc.

The inscriptions are carved by Kashan's great master calligraphers like Mohammad Ebrahim Moarefi, Adib Mohammad Hossein Kashani and Seyed Sadegh, and even the paintings were executed by Mohammad Bagher Ghamsari. On the left side, towards the front door of the main courtyard, is the mausoleum of the Naraghi family.

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