The Role and Function of Mosques in Old Neighborhoods of Kerman City

In the beginning the Islam insight located the mosque as an important element and the religious and political center in the heart of the city; and the Friday mosque became one of the main parts of the social system. The belief of having a particular structure as a place of worship and the center of civil activities had a deep effect on scheme and design of the cities both in the Islamic period and before that. So the neighborhoods of cities in Islamic period have made a close relation with Friday mosque in a unique context because each neighborhood has several mosques in which one of them is more important and take more functions and activities than the others. The present article studies the role and function of mosques in the old neighborhoods of Kerman city and investigates their trend during the time. The research method is descriptive-analytic which has been prepared by applying the present sources and studying the mentioned data. The results show that in past the function of mosques was mainly religious and the union center of the neighborhood but today their cultural and social role has been increased; Finally some techniques have been presented to optimize their function.