The Chahar Bagh Theological School
The Chahar Bagh mosque, also called Madrasa Mādar-e Shāh (Madrasa of the mother of the Shāh) and Madrasa Allamieh Imām Sādeq (A), is the last solemn historical building of the period Safavid to Esfahan; built for the teaching and education of students of theological sciences in the period of the Shāh Soltān Hossein, the last Safavid king, from the year 1116 to the 1126 of the lunar Hegira, it has an area of 8500 square meters and in the following years were decorations added.
The Madrasa Chahār Bāgh, which according to many scholars was both a theological school and a mosque, is located in the homonymous street and for this reason bears its name.
The architectural style of this building is from the school of Esfahān. From the point of view of the architectural balance and the beauty of the design of the majolica, the dome of the Madrasa Chahār Bāgh comes after the Sheikh Loftfallah mosque but according to the great masters of this technique, the majesty of this building which is decorated with gold and silver, from the point of view of the goldsmith's art, of gold, of drawing and engraving, it is a masterpiece of refined craftsmanship and has no equal.
The Madrasa Chahār Bāgh is also very important for the processing of majolica tiles and having grouped together different types of this technique it is actually the majolica museum of Esfahan. The mihrāb and the minbar formed by a single block of marble, the exclusive room of the Shāh Soltān Hossein, the extraordinary majolica of the entrance to the Madrasa, the nasta'liq calligraphies of the epigraphs and the wooden windows, are among the very interesting sections and to be seen of this solemn historic building.
The ancient trees of the plane tree and the stream of water that flows between them, is added to the beauty of this building making this place very pleasant and really enchanting.
The minbar with twelve steps of the madrasa is made of a single marble, the shabestān covered has three mihrāb and two holy water fonts, one in the vestibule of the entrance and the other in the courtyard of the madrasa. There is also a stone in northern Iwān indicating the time of the noon prayer.
The caravanserai close to the buildings of the Chahār Bāgh madrasa has been transformed into the Abbasi hotel (international hotel Abbasi) and as regards the architectural style among the high-level hotels of the world it is unique; another adjoining building is the art bazaar which in the past was also called "small bazaar high" or "bazaar shāhi".