Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque

The purpose of this mosque was for it to be private to the royal court (unlike the Shah Mosque, which was meant for the public). For this reason, the mosque does not have any minarets and is smaller. Indeed, few Westerners at the time of the Safavids even paid any attention to this mosque, and they certainly did not have access to it.

To avoid having to walk across the Naqsh-e Jahan Square to the mosque, Shah Abbas had the architect build a tunnel spanning the piazza from the Ali Qapu Palace to the mosque. On reaching the entrance of the mosque, one would have to walk through a passage that winds round and round, until one finally reached the main building. Along this passage there were standing guards, and the obvious purpose of this design was to shield the women of the harem as much as possible from anyone's entering the building. These doors are open to worshippers and visitors, and the passage underneath the piazza is no longer in use.

Sheikh Lotfollah

The mosque was named in 1622 after Shaykh Lutfallah Maysi al-'Amili (d.1622), a prominent religious scholar and teacher (and father-in-law to Shah 'Abbas) who came to Isfahan at the orders of Shah 'Abbas, and resided on the site, but was never involved in the mosque's construction.

Throughout its history, this mosque has been referred to by different names. For Junabadi it was the mosque with the great dome (Masjed-e qubbat-e ’azim) and the domed mosque (qubbat masjed), while contemporary historian Iskandar Munshi referred to it as the mosque of great purity and beauty. On the other hand, European travellers, such as Jean Chardin, referred to the mosque using the current name, and Quranic inscriptions within the mosque, done by Iranian calligrapher Baqir Banai, also include the name of Sheikh Lutfallah. In addition, the reckonings of Muhibb Ali Beg, the Imperial Treasurer, show that the Imam's salary came directly from the imperial household's resources. All this suggests that not only was the building indeed named after Sheikh Lutfallah, but also, that this famous imam was among the first prayer-leaders for the royal court in this very mosque.

The mosque is more similar in type to a mausoleum than a four-iwan mosque. Architectural historians ascribe this either to the fact that members of the Shah's family had used it for private worship or that it had functioned as a women's sanctuary. The building was completed in 1028 AH (1618/1619 CE).

According to Sheila Blair and Jonathan Bloom, the architect of the building was Muhammad Reza (or Muhammad Riza), son of Husayn, a builder from Isfahan, whose name appears on an inscription around the mihrab. Other names found in the mosque's inscriptions are Ali Reza al-Abbasi, a calligrapher who also worked later on the Shah Mosque nearby, and Baqir Banna' (Baqir the Builder).

Entrance iwan

The entrance gateway, like those of the Grand Bazaar and the Masjed-e Shah, was a recessed half-moon. Also, as in the Masjed-e Shah, the lower façade of the mosque and the gateway are constructed of marble, while the haft-rang tiles (Persian: هفت‌رنگی, romanized: seven-coloured "polychrome mosaics") decorate the upper parts of the structure.

The monument's architect solved the problem of the difference between the direction of qibla and the portal iwan by devising an L-shaped connecting vestibule between the entrance and the enclosure. The north–south orientation of the maydan does not agree with south-west direction of qibla; it is set at 45 degrees to it. This feature, called pāshnah (پاشنه) in Persian architecture, has caused the dome to stand not exactly behind the entrance iwan.

The recessed small court flows from the maydan and is linked, on its north and south sides, to the continuous corridor that envelopes the maydan's mercantile facilities. As a result, when viewed from the maydan, the mosque's main portal iwan and dome do not fall on the same axis, as is always the case in other mosques, but instead the dome appears behind the main portal iwan as if having slid 6.5 metres (21 ft) to the right from its axis. This asymmetrical layout was initially introduced to reconcile the (southwest) direction of Mecca with the placement of the mihrab on the qibla wall, and adds visual complexity to the structure.

The portal iwan is elaborately ornamented in colorful mosaics that contrast with the maydan's sand-colored bricks. Built as a recessed area on the eastern wall of the court, the portal iwan is an elevated platform raised by four steps from the court level. An inscription band in white on a dark blue background runs horizontally on the three sides of the portal niche, above which begins the iwan's vault, comprising four clusters of muqarnases made of small glazed-tiles units. One of the inscriptions on this portal gives the date of the start of construction. A pointed-arch doorway is located below the inscription band and is flanked by two panels of mosaics of floral arabesques with motifs in yellow, white, and blue on a dark blue background. These panels rest on top of a continuous marble dado.

Size and area

In contrast to the grand size of the maydan's space, the Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque is very small and consists of a single domed chamber (19 metres (62 ft) on a side), surrounded by rooms – that possibly functioned as service areas – on its sides, and preceded by a portal iwan overlooking the maydan. The two rooms accessed from the corridor which envelopes the sanctuary dome measure 6 by 9 metres (20 by 30 ft); one is found on the western side of the corridor, and the other along the far end of the eastern wall. A third room – 8 by 16 metres (26 by 52 ft) – is located on the exterior of the southern wall of the sanctuary, and is accessed via the corridor running along the maydan wall and then turning right after the vestibule area. Although the Sheikh Lotfollah is not a rectangular structure, its masses can be measured as one rectangular area of 44 by 30 metres (144 by 98 ft) and an additional rectangular service area comprising approximately 152 square metres (1,640 sq ft).