Qom city | This city is much more than you think!

IRAN Tour Packages | Qom city is a small city 125 kilometers south of Tehran, the city is mostly known as the religious capital of Iran.
In addition to the seminaries and Fatima Masoumeh Shrine (the sister of the eighth Shiite Imam), there are many beautiful places for you to visit in this city. So, read the rest to find out!

First of all,  you’ve got to know that Qom is a religious city; and the low about hijab is a little stricter than the other cities of Iran. So, you may have to have longer manteaus with you and pay more attention to your outfit.
You can travel to Qom using railway, airway or road transport. There are buses and taxis available in Qom city; and if you want to use subway, it is available at some parts of the city.

Qom doesn’t sum up in mosques and Islamic schools and holly shrines, there are tons of spectacular places you can visit in this small city. In this article we are going to introduce seven of them to you and completely change your opinion.

1.  The Jame’ Mosque of Qom city

Qom Jame’ Mosque or Atiq mosque is located in the old part of the city. The exaact location of this mosque in Qom city is: near Azar Street and Ray Gate. The 6,000-square-meter antique mosque is the 12th largest mosque in the country; and also, the oldest mosque in Qom after Imam Hassan Asgari’s mosque. This mosque is consisted of buildings from different periods and dynasties. The current construction of the dome goes back to 1135 AD; this date was vividly clear in the Inscriptions on the building till reconstructing the building in Qajar dynasty.

The mosque has a rectangular courtyard and not even an iron branch is in the structure of this large mosque and its dome. It has an ancient porch and dome with two earrings, three Shabistans, iwan, a porch and entrance porch.

2. Gonbad Sabz Garden

One of Qom’s historical attractions of the eighth century are the tomb towers; The location of this famous towers is inside a small garden, called the Green Dome Garden. There are three tombs adjacent to each other in the Green Dome Garden.
The garden is located in the eastern part of the city, at the end of Chahar Mardan Street, next to the Qom Martyrs’ Gulzar; and locals know it as Kashan Gate.
This remarkable complex is one of the unique monuments in terms of plaster- moulding and brick work in Qom. The rulers of the Safi family, one of the independent rulers of Qom, are buried in here.
According to the names engraved on the historical inscriptions of these places, Khwaja Asiluddin, Khwaja Ali Safi and another person who unfortunately, we can’t identify because of the disappearance of the third dome’s inscription, are the ones whom their body lies in these domes.

3. Feyziyeh School

Faizieh Qom School is one of the most famous areas of religious sciences in Iran and in the world. This school is located in the holy Astana Square, next to the holy shrine of Hazrat Masoumeh.

The school has four porches and consists of two floors with 40 cells (Hojre) in each floor. The cells of the first floor is from Qajar dynasty; and the date of manufacturing the cells in second floor is the 20^th century.
The oldest part of the building is it’s south porch with beautiful tiles, which is on the side of Qiblah and you can see it connects to the holy shrine. The porch was built in 15th century and designed in Safavid dynasty during it’s restoration.

4. Qom Salt Lake

In the deserted region of central Iran, 62 km from Qom and 35 km from Aran and Bidgol , there is village a salt lake, called “Qom salt lake“. This lake has also another names such as Masileh salt lake or Aran and Bidgol salt lake. The salt lake, known for its high salinity, is one of the most important natural attractions in Qom province.

With a length of 80 km and a width of 30 km and a depth of 5-54 m, Qom salt lake is one of the most important food and industrial salt extraction bases in Iran. About 3 kilometers to the lake and to the southern part of it, there is a spectacular island called “The Wander Island”.

The Wander Island

The average height of Qom salt lake is 707m above the sea level; and the highest point of this island is about 808 meters above sea level, composed of porous volcanic rocks. The island has also no vegetation; and the reason for naming it as a wandering island, is that when you look at the island from afar, the two ends of the island disappear into the horizon, creating a landscape like a wandering ship in the vast desert. In the past, people believed that the wandering island was always moving and moving from place to place.

5. Dayr-e Gachin

Dayr-e Gachin, One of Iran’s largest caravansaries, is located on the historic Ray-Qom Road in the center of the Desert National Park. The unique features of this monument is the reason that people call it “Mother of Iranian carvanserais”. The building was named Dayr-e Gachin because of it’s big plaster dome, but there is no such dome now. The monument goes back to Sasanid dynasty; and they repaired it during Saljuq, Safavid and Qajar periods. The carvanserai has a four iwan plan and the spaces within it divide into human, animal and welfare spaces. The building has four round towers at the corners; and two half-oval bases on either side of the main porch, which is in the middle of the south wall.

6. Mont Élie or Khazr Nabi Mountain

Situated 6 kilometers from downtown Qom, to the south of the city, there is a 1090-meter-high white mountain, called Khazr Nabi Mountain. At the top of this mountain, you can see a small mosque. People say that it it is the place of Khazr prophet’s pilgrimage; and this is why they call the mountain by his name. To reach the summit of Mount Khazr Nabi, which is the Qibla of Qom, you have to climb up about more than 300 stairs.

7. Jamkaran Mosque

Jamkaran Mosque is located 6 km from Qom city, near Kashan road and Jamkaran village. The mosque is near Mont Élie and you can plan to visit both sites in a day. Decorations of the mosque were made during the Qajar period; including seven-color brick tiles, ornamented by Islamic motifs with gold-and-azure watercolor and an inscription of brick and adorned tiles with Jom’e Sura on it. The altar is beautifully and artistically decorated; and the art masters have adorned them with plastered mahogany coverings and inscriptions with Thultha writings on them.

The main Shabistan of the Jamkaran mosque is about 1000 square meters; built on an octagonal plan consisting of three entrances to the north and two entrances to the south. Eight columns embedded in this Shabistan, are decorated with mosaic tiles and Mogharnas; and the dome is located on them with a metal structure.
You can see brickes and mosaics, beautifullt decorating the inner side of the dome; and the outside covered with azure tiles.

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