Nasir al-Mulk and Sheikh Lotfollah: Iran's mosques of light

In Iran, religious architecture has turned light into a material in its own right. In Shiraz, the Nasir al-Mulk Mosque transforms morning prayer into a kaleidoscope of color; in Isfahan, the Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque hides one of the most perfect domes in Persian architecture behind a dark corridor.

Nasir al-Mulk, the "Pink Mosque"

Built between 1876 and 1888 by the architect Mohammad Hasan-e Memâr, the Nasir al-Mulk Mosque in Shiraz owes its nickname "Pink Mosque" to its ceramic tiles, which make it one of the most photographed mosques in the world. Every morning, early and especially in winter, its colored stained-glass windows cast dazzling patterns across the prayer hall floor, a spectacle that lasts only a few hours. The foundation that maintains it is still run by the descendants of its patron.

Sheikh Lotfollah, the art of gradual unveiling

Built between 1603 and 1619 by the architect Mohammad Reza Isfahani for the private use of the Safavid royal court, the Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque in Isfahan stands out for the absence of a courtyard and minaret, a rare architectural choice for a mosque of this importance. Its entrance corridor is deliberately bent and dark, so that the dazzle of the dome hits harder once you cross through. From the entrance of the hall, the reflected light forms the spread tail of a peacock whose body is painted at the top of the dome.

Two ways of taming light

Where Nasir al-Mulk lets color in through dozens of small stained-glass windows directly visible from outside, Sheikh Lotfollah withholds the light and reveals it gradually, along a path designed as a piece of staging. Two radically different approaches to the same subject: making natural light a full architectural element in its own right, rather than a mere constraint to be lit around.