Kabood or Jahanshah Mosque is one of the works by Abul Mozaffar Jahanshah bin Qara Yousef, a member of Qaraqoyounlu tribe, in Tabriz. It was completed in 870 AH subsequent to supervision of Jahanshah’s wife, Jan Beigum Khatoon. According to the website k.domaindlx, the glorious edifice is referred to as Mozaffarieh Building in some history books. In the first half of the 11th century AH, Turkish tourists Kateb Chalabi and Olia Chalabi visited the mosque. Moreover, in the second half of the same century French tourists Tavernier and Chardon toured the mosque.
In one of his writings, Kateb wrote: “Jahanshah Mosque’s doorway is even taller than Taq-e (Arch of) Kasra. It is an exquisite building decorated with beautiful colorful tiles. It also has high domes. The mosque is so beautiful that when you enter it you do not want to leave.“
A French tourist de la Foire in her travelogue wrote: “The city of Tabriz does not have many old edifices, but whatever remains from the past is worthy of attention. The best case is Kabood Mosque. É Unfortunately, the dome of this unique building was destroyed after an earthquake some centuries ago. Parts of the walls of the mosque have also been damaged. The mosque has a large courtyard in the center which there is a pond’’
De la Foire recalled that Jahanshah’s incentive for building the mosque was his devotion to Shiism.
“In the unparalleled tile-works of the mosque the names of the infallible household of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) are written in different forms,“ she wrote.
The floor of the edifice is made of pebbles and is indeed magnificent. It remains intact after centuries.
The mosque is square-shaped and each side of it is 16.5 meters long. Because of its large turquoise dome, the mosque was also known as Turquoise of Islam. The sad part is that after the earthquake of 1192 AH the entire ceiling of the mosque fell into ruins. The altar, which is made of marble stones, was also split in two halves.
There is an annexation to the mosque in which Jahanshah Elementary School and Azarbaijan Museum are located. The annexation was built in 1958. The most important section of Azarbaijan Museum is the one that has to do with the Constitution Movement of 1906.
What catches the eye at first glimpse is the height and width of the doorway, which is not proportionate to other parts of the edifice. The height of the doorway is twice the width. This mosque is registered by UNESCO as international treasure…