The Jameh Mosque is located inside corridors of Tehran's Grand Bazar. Some believe that the oldest section of the mosque was built more than 1,000 years ago.

Its oldest Shabestan (an underground space that can be usually found in traditional architecture of mosques) is more than a thousand years old.

The Tehran Bazar Jameh Mosque is situated in an area of 20,000 cubic meters and includes seven shabestans. The shabestans have been built in different eras since the first construction operation. The shabestans have been of great importance to residents of Tehran in various eras.

The oldest map of this region of Tehran belongs to Roman Ghirshman, a French archaeologist, which dates back to 160 years ago. The map illustrates all seven shabestans, which were built until that time.

Ayatollah Shahabadi Mosque, Large or Zir Gonbad (Under Dome) Shabestan, Ayatollah Ja'fari Shabestan, Chehelsotoon Mosque, Underground Mosque, Ayatollah Estarabadi Mosque, Small Mosque are among the shabestans. All these mosques are totally named Bazar Jameh Mosque and Bazar merchants call each of them a shabestan. 

Zir Gonbad Shabestan, Shahabadi Mosque and Ja'fari Mosque are known as Atiq Mosque, because these three mosques are older than the four other mosques.

Architecture of any shabestan is different from Bazar Jameh Mosque; for example, Ayatollah Shahabadi Mosque with its ancient windcatchers is located in the vicinity of western door of Bazar Jameh Mosque. The windcatchers is the reason why the shabestan is named Masjid Bahareh (Spring Mosque).

Numerous pillars inside one of the shabestans are the root cause of naming it as Chehelsotoon (40 columns), while in fact it has only 36 columns. The mosque has a unique library of manuscripts and precious Quran. Ayatollah Saeed Tehrani donated the holy Quran and different translations of the holy book to the library of the mosque.

There are different copies of the Quran in print and manuscripts, which have been purchased from around the world and donated to the Chehelsotoon Mosque.

There are copies of all Qurans available in Iran, Pakistan, India, Arabic and European countries with different translations into Persian, Urdu, English, German, French, Spanish and so on in the library.

The first Quran printed in Iran, as well as the first printed Quran in the world in more than 300 years, are being displayed in the Chehelsotoon Mosque.

1424

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