ARCHITECT ATLAS
Loading atlas
Green Mosque (Mazar of Khawaja Abu Nasr Parsa)

Green Mosque (Mazar of Khawaja Abu Nasr Parsa)

Photo: AhmadElhan · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Location
Balkh, Afghanistan
Client / Owner
Mir Mazid Arghun
Year
Completed 1421
Access
Public
Typology
Spiritual
Style
—

The Green Mosque in Balkh stands over the grave of Khawaja Abu Nasr Parsa, a local teacher and mystic of the Naqshbandi order. The Timurid general Mir Mazid Arghun built it, with a madrasa beside it, between 1419 and 1421. The article names no architect and describes the style as Timurid. The Shaybanid governor Abdul-Mo'min renovated it in the late 16th century.

It takes its name from turquoise kashi tiles, known locally as Turkish Green. The very large main dome has a muqarnas base, eight openings that light it and sixteen windows at the rim of the vault. A crypt below holds a tomb suggested to be Parsa's. The two minarets on the porch are now reduced to bases and stumps.

The mosque was severely damaged during the Soviet-Afghan War and fell into major disrepair. An explosion inside in 2022 destroyed parts of it. It is listed as active, though partly ruinous.

Comments

  • Loading comments…
Be kind. Anyone can flag a comment for review.

Sign in

or

Your profile

3 to 24 letters, numbers, underscores or periods. It’s shown with your comments.

Contact us

Questions, corrections or ideas? Your message goes straight to the Architect Atlas owner.

Save to list

    Edit information

    We look the building up on Wikipedia for you. Architect Atlas lists buildings that have their own Wikipedia article: our test for notoriety and our source of truth.

        Typology
        Style (one to three)
        Photo (shown in a 4:3 frame)

        Drag and zoom to frame the building well. New photos are checked before they appear.

        Every change is checked before it goes live: facts against Wikipedia, photos by eye.