Qom Historic Mosques and Islamic Architecture
Explore the historic mosques and religious architecture of Qom beyond the great shrine, where the accumulated centuries of religious building have created a cityscape dense with domed prayer halls, minarets, and the architectural heritage of a city that has been a center of Islamic scholarship since the 8th century.
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Imam Hassan Askari Mosque
Visit the Imam Hassan Askari Mosque, one of Qom's historic religious buildings where the architecture of the Qajar period demonstrates the continuing vitality of Persian mosque design in the 19th century, the decorated tile program and the proportioned ivan entrance representing competent craftsmanship in the traditional style.
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Historic Cemetery
Walk through the Sheykhun Cemetery where the graves of prominent scholars, teachers, and clerics buried in Qom over centuries create one of the densest concentrations of significant Islamic graves outside the holy cities of Mecca, Medina, Najaf, and Karbala.
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Tomb of Shah Cheragh Predecessors
Visit smaller shrine tombs in the city where minor figures from Islamic history — companions of the imams, local scholars, and pious individuals — are buried in shrine structures that have accumulated their own devotional traditions and pilgrimage practices over the centuries.
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Old City Quarter Mosques
Walk through the old city quarter where neighborhood mosques built over centuries provide the local architectural fabric of the holy city, the varying architectural styles reflecting the different periods of Qom's development from the early Islamic centuries through the Qajar era.
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Modern Religious Architecture
See the modern religious architecture being built in Qom where the expansion of the pilgrimage complex and the construction of new seminary buildings, libraries, and cultural centers creates a contemporary layer of religious building on top of the historic fabric.
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Panoramic City View
Find an elevated viewpoint from which the full panorama of Qom's religious cityscape is visible — the golden dome of the shrine, the minarets of the mosques and seminaries, and the urban fabric of a city that has been entirely organized around religious function for over twelve centuries.