Damghan Tarikhaneh Mosque
Damghan tarikhane mosque is one of the best and oldest samples of early mosques in Iran. It is located in southeast of Damghan in Semnan. This mosque is one of the oldest buildings from early Islam.
Its history is claimed to be between 130 and 170 AH. It is said about the name of the mosque that the word Tari means God and Tarikhaneh means the god of the house. On the other hand, the use of the word "Tari" meaning dark in the language of the indigenous people of the region, as well as the use of the word "darkroom" in some sources, makes it difficult to express a definite opinion about the name of the building. Damghan Historical Mosque is also mentioned as forty columns in some historical sources due to its large number of columns. Some believe that this mosque used to be a fire temple and became a mosque after the Arab domination. This historical monument of Semnan province has been registered in the list of national monuments of Iran on January 6, 1961 with number 80.
Architecture of Damghan Tarikhaneh Mosque
Architecture of Damghan Tarikhane mosque is very important for researchers in terms of its antiquity. French archaeologist and architect Andre Godard considers the map of this building to be the simplest and most scientific map of early Islamic mosques. The mosque is similar to the Arab mosques in terms of plan, but similar to the Sassanid buildings in terms of materials and the way it is built and decorated. The mosque has a rectangular plan that is built as a nave with a central courtyard and a portico around in the direction of the qibla.The nave has seven openings, two of which can be seen on both sides in the direction of the porches and five openings in the main view. The mosque was covered with rocking arches on strong arches and columns, but today these rocking arches have been destroyed. To support the arches, large columns have been created that are connected to each other and to the wall by arches. For this purpose, pieces of wood have been used. The mosque originally had 34 columns, of which 26 now remain. Columns are built with bricks which are similar to Sassanid dynasty. Furthermore, due to its diameter, they are similar to Sassanid buildings. 18 columns of total columns of the building are located in the main nave and others are around the yard.The columns of Tarikhaneh mosque of Damghan had large multiplicative arches. Based on the discovery of plastering pieces and citing historical texts, it is determined that some of the columns of the nave had bedding decorations. The altar and pulpit of the historic mosque of Damghan were located in the main nave, and the pulpit has now been destroyed.
Tags: Attractions of Semnan province, semnan province, Damghan Tarikhaneh Mosque
