Herat Mosque
Herat mosque has different names such as Jama masjid, Friday mosque, Masjid-a-Jami and the great mosque of Herat. It is present in the Herat province of Afghanistan in its north-west side. It is one of the most attracting buildings in the Islamic world. Its construction is in purely Islamic way. Its glorious beauty pulls hundreds of people from all around the world and hence is one of the landmarks and a beautiful image of Islamic architecture. It is a big rectangular building spread on a wide area with eight minars and round doors like a cave similar to many other mosques. It has three large walls and a big courtyard. Use of lapis a precious gemstone of dark blue color along with bricks and specially cut stones are mostly used material giving an eye catching look to it. There are several other small mosques around the jama masjid for the use of daily prayer. The mosque is covered by gardens and footpaths.
The first stone of the mosque was laid in early 1200 AD during the rule of Ghurid dynasty and since than it had been facing different ups and downs, destructions due to the come and gone of rulers like Timurid, Safavids and Mughals up to 1404 when it had given totally new renovation. The mosque was made on place of temples which had been destroyed. It was made under the order of Ghiyas ad-din Ghori and its construction was continued by two successors after his death but the Timurids came in whose era mosque was destroyed by earth quakes. A new mosque was constructed in that place by the Mughals who brought workers from all around the Afghanistan and utilized five years to complete it but this was not the end of problems for the mosque as it had to face destruction again during the Anglo-Afghan fights and finally it was renovated in 1945. Due to the various hands in construction the building has changed its face many times and today is not very original but its entrance is same as it was during the laying of its first brick by Ghurids.
