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Rang

City of the Pink Mosque

Shiraz

A mosque tiled in pink roses, where morning sun through coloured glass paints the carpets.

The development of the city of Shiraz from the Balai Koh Musharraf to the Qur'an - Shiraz
Photo: آرش (Arche), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Why Shiraz is rose pink

Shiraz, in southern Iran, is known as a city of gardens and of the poets Hafez and Saadi. Its most colourful building is the Nasir al-Mulk Mosque, finished in 1888 under the Qajar dynasty. Most Persian mosques are dominated by blue. Here the tiles carry pink roses, irises and yellow grounds, which earned it the name Pink Mosque. The winter prayer hall has a wall of stained-glass doors. For a couple of hours after sunrise the low sun passes through them and throws patches of red, blue, green and yellow across the carpets and carved pillars. The effect is strongest in the cooler months, when the sun is lowest.

Rose pink#E58CA5Stained-glass red#C8342BStained-glass blue#2F5FB5Tile yellow#E9C04ACypress green#3F6B4A

Values are fair approximations of what the eye sees there, not measurements.

Colours tied to Shiraz

RoseA bright colour halfway between red and magenta on the colour wheelPinkA light tint of red, named after the pink flower and used in art, fashion, and culture
About this page

Written by the Rang desk with AI assistance. Background: "Shiraz" on Wikipedia. If you know Shiraz and we have it wrong, tell us.

More colour cities

All colour cities
🇮🇷 Half the world, in turquoiseIsfahanSafavid mosques around a vast square are covered inside and out with turquoise and deep blue tiles.🇮🇷 The mud-brick desert cityYazdAn earth-coloured city of domes and wind towers in central Iran, with one tall gateway of blue tile.🇮🇷 The village carved in grey conesKandovanA village in north-west Iran where homes are hollowed out of pale cone-shaped rocks of volcanic ash.🇮🇳 The Pink CityJaipurThe walled city wears a dusty terracotta pink, first painted on for a royal visit in 1876 and kept ever since.🇮🇳 Town of Holi coloursVrindavanFor Holi the temple town of Krishna's childhood fills with clouds of pink, yellow and green powder.🇧🇩 Rickshaw art capitalDhakaHundreds of thousands of cycle rickshaws carry hand-painted panels of film stars, birds and flowers.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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