Masjid-i Shāh of Mashhad and its Inscriptions

Mosque is among the most important edifices in Islamic Architecture، which has a significant role in the cultural، social، and religious life of the Muslims. Since mosque is God’s House and a place for whispering supplications to Him، the Muslim rulers have attempted to construct or reconstruct mosques. They have benefited from the help of the artists and calligraphers for the physical and spiritual decoration and beautification of the mosques; and thus، the art of calligraphy in the form of decorative inscriptions was employed with an aesthetic and ideological function in the architecture of the mosques and religious buildings. In the Timurid period، which is one of the prosperous Islamic periods in terms of architecture and art، abundant use has been made of the art of calligraphy in decoration of the mosques. Masjid-i Shāh or Imām، is one of the monuments of the Timurid period in Mashhad that is located in the south-west of Gawharshād Mosque and along the former Bāzār-i Zanjīr (Chain Bazaar). This mosque is one of the mausoleum mosques of the Timurid period، in whose internal and external space there are a total of 21 inscriptions with various scripts consisting of various contexts. This research is mainly intended to study various scripts and contexts used in this building.