Masjed-e Jāmé, Isfahan, Iran

This card is a bit older... I received this one back in 2009, from a tag on the Postcrossing forum. I've been reading a Middle East cookbook recently and there are lots of yummy-sounding Iranian recipes in it that I'd love to try, mmmmm... Well, here's a postcard from Iran, then, to keep up with the theme :P

Located in the historic centre of Isfahan, the Masjed-e Jāmé (‘Friday mosque’) can be seen as a stunning illustration of the evolution of mosque architecture over twelve centuries, starting in ad 841. It is the oldest preserved edifice of its type in Iran and a prototype for later mosque designs throughout Central Asia. The complex, covering more than 20,000 m2, is also the first Islamic building that adapted the four-courtyard layout of Sassanid palaces to Islamic religious architecture. Its double-shelled ribbed domes represent an architectural innovation that inspired builders throughout the region. The site also features remarkable decorative details representative of stylistic developments over more than a thousand years of Islamic art.