Short Title

B02.075 Masjid-e-Shah (Shah Mosque)

Preview

Creator

Denis Baly

Image ID

B02.075

Image Format

Article

Description

Exterior view of the dome of the Shah Mosque from within the madrasa courtyard. "The exterior of the sanctuary dome is covered with spiraling beige arabesque on a light blue ground. The enormous dome (external diameter 25 meters; height 52 meters) is raised on a sixteen-sided zone of transition and a tall drum. It has a double shell, for the bulbous exterior dome rises some fourteen meters above the interior hemisphere, an arrangement also derived from Timurid prototypes. Despite its large size, it seems to float above the other domed roofs of the mosque, which are left plain" (189). -MA (Source: Blair, Sheila S., and Jonathan M. Bloom. The Art and Architecture of Islam: 1250–1800. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1994.)