Amir Chakhmaq Mosque

Having visited Amir Chakhmaq Square , have a look at one of the most spectacular mosques of Yazd, Amir Chakhmaq Mosque , which belongs to Amir Chakhmaq Complex .
Amir Chakhmaq Mosque is located on southern side of Amir Chakhmaq Square which used to be out of the city barrier in Qajar dynasty and includes an inscription written by Mohammad Hakim, one of the most out-standing thuluth calligraphers in 9^th century AH.  In this inscription, it is recorded that the mosque was completed in 841 AH.
Amir Chakhmaq Mosque is the second biggest, most important, and most beautiful mosque in Yazd. 

Age of Amir Chakhmaq Mosque

It is narrated that Amir Jalal al-Din Chakhmaq (ruler of Yazd in Timurid Dynasty) in his second trip to the city planned the mosque with the help of his wife, Seti Fatemeh. Then, great builders, tile makers and thuluth calligraphers accomplished the mosque in twenty years of tough difficulty. It is interesting to know that the expenses of Amir Chakhmaq Mosque and other buildings in Amir Chakhmaq Complex have been partly met by Rashidi endowments. 

Architecture of Amir Chakhmaq Mosque

Amir Chakhmaq Mosque includes two Shabestans, a winter Shabestan and a summer Shabestan. There is a spectacular badgir (wind tower) in summer Shabestan right above the mihrab. The winter Shabestan is located in the entrance corridor of the mosque and is lit by marble stones. Amir Chakhmaq Mosque also has a rectangular brick minaret which is near its eastern entrance.
Some parts of the porch are decorated with moaragh tiles and some inscriptions in moaragh tiles are located on the sides of the porch.

The mihrab of Amir Chakhmaq Mosque is covered with moaragh and muqarnas designs and in the middle of the mihrab, there is a fascinating marble stone showing the majesty of Iranian-Islamic tile work. The majesty is much more observed in the dome of the mosque which is covered by green tiles and Kufic writings. 

One of the important features of the mosque is that it lacks minarets for which there are two narrations. Some people believe that mosques built founded by women lacked minarets. Some other say that as Sunni mosques own odd number of minarets while Shiite mosques own even number of minarets; Amir Chakhmaq Mosque does not have any minarets which shows the unity of all Muslims and both Sunnis and Shiites are welcomed to say prayers and worship God here.

Inscriptions in Amir Chakhmaq Mosque

Several historical inscriptions can be seen in Amir Chakhmaq Mosque . Let’s have a brief look at one of these inscriptions: Mirza Mohammad, who was the minister of Yazd in Timurid period, allocated a big tea house, located next to Amir Chakhmaq Square and Amir Chakhmaq Neighborhood Bazaar, in order yo hold Imam Hossein’s Ta'zieh ceremonies under the conditions that the expenses of holding the ceremony such as expenses for buying carpets and window paper (at that time the windows were covered by paper), supplying fuel and light for Husseiniyeh to be met by renting the tea house. The grave stone of Mirza Mohammad (died in 1037 SH) is located at the right side of the mosque .
Amir Chakhmaq Mosque was registered in the list of Iran National Monuments on December 7, 1935 with registration No. 247.

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