Damghan, Iran
Coordinates: 36.164247, 54.354332
The Tarikhaneh Mosque also called the Tarikhaneh Temple, is a Sassanid-era monument located on the southern limit of the present day city of Damghan, Iran.
This place was in the pre-Islamic place of worship of the Zoroastrian and used it as a fire or temple of fire, and is about 2,300 years old.
This structure was initially used as a Zoroastrian Fire Temple during the Sassanid period, however, after the fall of the Sassanid Empire it was converted into a mosque in the 8th century. The monument is, thus, known as the oldest mosque in Iran.
Before the arrival of Islam to Iran and the Qomes area, the people of this city used this place as the ritual of religious ceremonies of Zoroastrian religion.
Minaret
The historic mosque is one of the first examples of a mosque in which the minaret is one of the constituent elements of the building.
The historical minaret of the mosque was destroyed inside the mosque. The current minaret of the mosque is based on the northern side of the mosque during the Ghaznavids era.
This minaret has no platform and is created directly from the ground and with the circle environment.
The height of the minaret is 26 meters and it has 86 steps. An interesting point of the minaret is the installation of mirror-sized coins in the inner walls of the minaret (staircase), which is used to reflect the light and brightness of the stairs
