The Great Mosque Builders (part 4): The Shah Mosque of Isfahan

Shah Abbas the Great was the ruler who pulled the Safavid empire back from collapse, reorganized its armies, and around 1598 moved his capital to Isfahan, where he laid out Naqsh-e Jahan, the Image of the World, one of the largest public squares ever built. In 1611 he began the mosque meant to crown it. This is the story of how it was made, and of the price of building in a hurry. This is the seventh and final episode of The Great Mosque Builders, the relay that began with the Umayyad Mosque ...