TEHRAN – Ardestan congregational mosque ensemble in central Iran has been nominated for possible inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

A dossier on Ardestan Jameh Mosque has been submitted to the United Nations’ cultural agency, ISNA quoted Ardestan Governor Alireza Ghayour as saying on Sunday.

The ensemble embraces a cistern, a caravanserai, a marketplace, a Hussainiya (congregation hall for Shia Muslims’ commemoration ceremonies), a bathhouse, and a madrasa, Ghayour explained.

“It is the first two-story yet earliest four-iwan (portico) mosque in the Islamic world. The ensemble was completed in 553 Hijri year,” the official added.

The mudbrick Jameh Mosque is of high historical importance as well as incorporating successive architectural styles of the Sassanids, Buyids, Seljuks and Safavids, Ghayour said.

Located in a city of the same name in Isfahan Province, the hypostyle structure has a four-portico (iwan) courtyard which is surrounded by encircling arcades.

According to Isfahan Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts Department, the mosque was inscribed on the national heritage list in 1931.

Filled from corner to corner with ancient bazaars, museums, mosques, monuments, gardens, and natural landscapes, Iran hosts some of the world’s oldest cultural monuments, including 22 UNESCO World Heritage sites. Its varied terrain ranges from desert locales to ski resorts.

PHOTO: A view of Ardestan Jameh Mosque in central Iran

AFM/MQ/MG