Remains of mosque unearthed in central Iran

A report by the Public Relations Office of the Research Institute of Cultural Heritage and Tourism (RICHT) suggested on Sunday that experts are cleaning the unearthed structure and stabilizing its decorations.

The RICHT quoted Head of the archeological team Fariba Saeidi as saying that architectural transformation of Imam Hassan Mosque of Zavareh requires careful architectural and archeological research works in order to find answers to the existing questions.

Saeidi said the western shabestan of the mosque wherein there are three altars with exquisite plasterworks as well as its two altars and its original structure have been destroyed.

The archaeologist noted that in the course of the explorations the remains of the shabestan have been unearthed and its two altars have been released after scraping the wall which had been applied over the two altars and are now being cleaned and its decorations are stabilized.

Saeidi referred to the sextuple altars in the Qibla wall and one altar in the western side and another in the underground shabestan as the unique specifications of the mosque and added that the reason the mosque has been named after Imam Hassan (AS) is based on a story that the Imam had said his prayers in the mosque while traveling to the East.

According to the archaeologist, the minaret of the Imam Hassan (Pamenar) Mosque is the second oldest of the minaret in Iran after the minaret of Jame Mosque of Saveh.

The minaret, based on the beautiful Kufic inscription installed on its pillar, was built on the orders of a person known as Mohammad ibn Ibrahim in 461 Lunar Hegira.

The archeologist further remarked that two historical periods of the mosque are Seljuk and Ilkhan eras of which plaster decorations representing the artistic style of the two periods are on its altars.

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