Tehran, 15 December 2006 (CHN Foreign Desk) -- While washing the walls of Tehran’s Imam (former Shah) Mosque which dates back to the Qajar dynastic era (1787-1921 AD), inattentiveness of Municipality workers resulted in the destruction of beautiful tile-works of the Mosque’s western porch. According to a technical expert from the Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department of Tehran, the remaining tiles were axed out by the workers.

 

Mehdi Memarzadeh told CHN that the project originally meant to wear off the dirt from the walls of this historic mosque but high pressure of the water made the tiles to fall off. “Imam Mosque, known as Shah or Soltani mosque in the past, is one of Tehran’s historic monuments that is now damaged due to negligence of the authorities of Tehran’s Department of Urban Management,” added Memarzadeh.

 

According to this expert, the tile-works of this mosque are dated to the reign of Qajar king, Fath-Ali Shah (1797 - 1834 AD) and its architecture resembles that of Isfahan’s Chahar-Baq School.

 

In a rather surprising response to this incident, Tehran’s Municipality said that new tiles will be made with the same design to replace the old ones.

 

The Qajar era Imam Mosque in located close to Tehran’s Grand Bazaar and was considered one of the architectural masterpieces of its time.

 

 

 Maryam Tabeshian

foreigndesk@chn.ir