Which mosque in Isfahan is considered Iran’s oldest surviving four-iwan mosque?

Jameh Mosque of Isfahan is considered Iran’s oldest surviving mosque organized around the four-iwan plan.

The mosque occupies the historic centre of Isfahan and records more than a thousand years of architectural change. Its earliest foundations date to the 8th century, while major rebuilding and enlargement took place under the Seljuks, Ilkhanids, Timurids, Safavids, and later dynasties.

The four-iwan arrangement uses four monumental vaulted halls facing a central courtyard. The plan became one of the defining layouts of Iranian mosque architecture, especially for major congregational mosques and religious schools. The building also preserves important brickwork, domes, tile decoration, and structural experiments from different periods.

The mosque is not the same as Isfahan’s Safavid Shah Mosque, which faces Naqsh-e Jahan Square. The Jameh Mosque is older, more stratified, and especially important because its present form shows how Iranian mosque architecture evolved over centuries rather than reflecting a single reign.