The Study of Jame Mosque of Kashan’s Brick Decoration

Based on its inscription, the history of Kashan’s Jame mosque minaret dates back to 466 A.H. One of the prominent features of remaining architectural works, including minarets, is the vast and subtle use of bricks and the brick ornament’s integrity with the structure of buildings. Unlike other examples contemporary with Jame mosque minaret, there is no trace of subtle brick decoration. Also, the minaret’s pictures at the time of its damaged façade shows that there was no connection between the façade and the structure, and that the façade was a separate shell covering the structure of the minaret, therefore the façade of minaret was damaged severely because of 1192 A.H. earthquake or some other reason while the structure remained whole. Because of afore mentioned facts, the original decoration and the degree of conformity between the post-restoration decoration and the original one is unknown. The purpose of this article is first, to pinpoint the original parts of minaret and evaluate the degree of conformity between the current decoration and the original one, through examining visual documents, and then to uncover the reason behind choosing a different technique in building this minaret. The strategies of this research are historical and descriptive analytical interpretation and its data were gathered thorough visual and text documents as well as field researches. This study resulted in the fact that, during the restoration process, minaret decoration was renewed with no regard for the original design. Even in the inscription, that remained almost intact based on the pictures, signs of interpolation can be seen. Regarding the different decoration techniques, the study led to the hypothesis that minaret was not build in Seljuk period, but rather in earlier periods as a part of the main mosque and was later decorated using bricks in the Seljuk period.