Vakil Mosque
The Vakil Mosque or Soltāni Mosque, a historical mosque dating from the Zand period in Shirāz (Fārs region), one of the most beautiful mosques in Iran, was built by the will of Karim Khān Zand in the year 1773 and only within two years .
The various sections of this historic two-mosque Iwan are: the portico that has a majolica epigraph with the verses of the Koran, the date of construction and the name of Fathali Shāh and Hossein Ali Mirzā in characters Suns e ābe talā (type of coating in which gold is coated with other metals);
the entrance door that has two doors with a beautiful tiled ceiling with floral motifs and the beautiful expression "Lā ilāha illallāh" (there is no other God except Allah), the octagonal vestibule to enter the rectangular courtyard that is covered from large stones and a large basin in the middle of it, the isolated courtyard or small courtyard with a stone bath which is accessed by means of a vestibule, two Iwan: I'Iwan northern or pearl arch, long and notable arch in the northern section of the mosque with two goldasteh majolica, three small blind arches and two inscriptions; the'Iwan southern facing the pearl arch and consists of four arches with tile work and has two inscriptions;
lo Shabestan southern with an area of about 5 thousand square meters with the floor covered with a completely smooth stone block, a brick arch and a dome with tile decorations on 48 stone columns from the twisted barrels; the minbar o marble pulpit that in honor of the 14 Imam has 14 steps of a size and the design of flowers with more petals on the margins of the two sides, the mihrab, niche or apse with encaustic tiles and floral motifs and the worked ceiling a muqarnas and to tiles;
in the western part the courtyard of the mosque has 11 blind arches with colored tiles, in the eastern part symmetrically to the western one, 11 arches and a small portico behind both arches and one Shabestan winter with four openings and twelve columns of the same shape.
The most important aspect that differentiates the Vakil mosque in Shirāz, which is also known by the name of the mosque Jām'eh Vakil, by most congregational mosques, is the fact of not having a dome; in the Vakil mosque there is not even a minaret, there are only two māzeneh (edicas with wooden conical roof) above the portal of the entrance
