Jameh Mosque of Sari
Mosques (Masjids) are one of the important places of worship for Muslims, especially collective worship in the holy month of Ramadan. Consequently, there are mosques in almost all of the Islamic cities or even villages. By the spread of Islam in Iran, in the 7th century, the structure of Iranian cities had changed and mosques, as important elements of the Islamic cities, had been built there. Sari, the provincial capital of Mazandaran, is a city with many mosques which the oldest one of them is called “Jameh Mosque”.
This structure is located in the Chenarbon Mahaleh of Sari, and its primary structure was constructed under the orders of Abol Qaseib, the Arab ruler of Tabarestan in the year 144 AH. The current structure is devoid of any historical relics. It has a square court-yard, nocturnal areas and a porch. Sari is the provincial capital of Mazandaran and former capital of Iran (for a short period), located in the north of Iran, between the northern slopes of the Alborz Mountains and southern coast of the Caspian Sea. Sari is the largest and most populous city of Mazandaran. Excavations in the Hutto cave present evidence for the existence of settlements around Sari as far back as the 70th millennium BCE. Sari has an average climate. Winters are cool and rainy whilst summers are hot and humid.
Sari Jameh Mosque, located in the middle of Nargesiyeh Bazar in Chenar Ben Neighberhood, is one of the oldest mosques in Mazandaran province. It dates back to pre-Islam era and used to be a fire-temple of Zoroastrians of Iran in the North, next to the Caspian Sea. After the acceptance of Islam by the people in the region, a mosque, known as Jameh Mosque, was constructed on the site of the temple. It is the first mosque built in the North of Iran.
Some historians believe Jameh Mosque had been built in the early centuries after the spread of Islam in Iran. Even some stated that this mosque had been built on the ruins of a fire temple of the Sasanid era. Today, nothing has remained of Jameh Mosque’s primary structure and its current structure has been built during Safavid and Qajar Dynasty. This Mosque has been recorded as one of the national monuments of Iran in 1999.
Sari Jami Mosques has two entrances; one for men (in the north of the building) and the other for women (in the west). It has a big yard, two Minarets and eight Shabestans; each Shabestan is called by a special name. The Mosque has a basement that is uesd for ablution facilities. Two years ago, in one of the hot days of summer, Sari Jameh Mosque caught fire because of the electrical malfunction. The fire destroyed the roof, one Minaret and some parts of the building of the Mosque. Some days after the incident, the rebuilding process had started and after one year the Mosque reopened. This year, under corona virus restriction, Sari Jameh Mosque, like many other mosques in the world, is closed temporarily.
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