MODEST & MAGICAL

Matthew Savides finds delight in the most unexpected of places

The last hoorah of the day casts a faint yellow glow over the Naqsh-e Jahan Square, bringing to life the breathtaking beauty of Iran’s iconic religious complex. The gentle clacking of horses’ hooves on the concrete mingles seamlessly with the sounds of children playing, while friends and couples chat excitedly as they sit alongside a central series of fountains. It’s idyllic. As a cyclist stops a few metres in front of me and whips out his phone to take a picture, I’m forced to break from my trance-like stare at the bright blue exterior of the building in front of me. I shake my head and blink repeatedly as it hits me: it’s a Tuesday in October and I’m in Iran, a country I never thought I’d visit, sitting cross-legged in front of a structure so glorious I can scarcely believe I’d never heard of it before.

The Imam Mosque in Esfahan, a central city 340km south of the capital Tehran, is a World Heritage Site of remarkable stature.

IMAGE OF THE WORLD

The Naqsh-e Jahan Square (which translates to “image of the world”) is 560m long and 160m wide.

Each of the four sides is held together by grand architecture. Everywhere you turn, there is something that will draw your attention.

To the east is the 400-year-old blue and yellow Sheikh Lotfallah Mosque, built exclusively for the royal family.

To the west is the Ali Qapu pavilion, a 48m, six-storey building used as an entertainment area, the balcony a favoured spot from where Persian Safavid rulers would watch the horseracing and other events play out in the square below.

To the north is the portico of Qeyssariyeh, a series of balconies and awnings that lead into a shopping bazaar that, according to Unesco, is 2km long.

But it is the southern end of the square that will draw you in. The Imam Mosque, also known as the Shah Mosque or Grand Mosque, was the tallest in Isfahan when it was completed in the 1620s.

It stands more than 50m high and has a 28m diameter. Its seven-colour tiles, mostly shades of blue, would reflect the sunlight and stand as an important landmark on the Persian stretch of the Silk Road trade route. Today, the fully functioning mosque has the same appeal. It’s difficult to look away.

The interior of the dome – and, in fact, the entrance into the dome – is equally impressive. Blue, gold and turquoise floral designs flow up the columned walls and meet at a dazzling central focal point. As you might be able to tell by now, I was smitten.

A RARE EXPERIENCE

So how did I wind up here, in a country sandwiched between war-ravaged Iraq and Afghanistan, slap-bang in the Middle East? The trip was an invitation from the Iranian Embassy in South Africa, billed as a “cultural, economic and political” tour of the country.

It was a trip not many South Africans make: the embassy says only between 3 000 and 5 000 people head there each year – and