Typology of Mosques in Baluchestan of Iran (from the Qajar period to the Present)

After the spread of Islam in its early centuries, Muslims of other regions built mosques according to their vernacular architecture and geographical attributes. Baluchestan of Iran was one of the regions where Islam flourished during the early Islamic centuries, and the locals built their mosques according to their region’s geography, culture, and materials. These mosques have different characteristics in comparison with mosques of other Iranian regions, and these features are analyzed in this paper in surviving examples of the last 300 years (from the Qajar period to the present). Thus, the distinctive features that reveal valuable information regarding the formation of architecture are studied. The aim of this study is to identify the formal/spatial structure of the mosques of Baluchestan, and to formulate a typology. The research method is descriptive analytical, and data was gathered through library study and field surveying of mosques. At first, the mosques are classified into three groups: nomadic, rural, and urban, and then, they are categorized based on their spatial/formal attributes. The difference in types regards the relationship of open space, semi-open space, and masses in the spatial model of mosques. The typological study shows that the mosques of Baluchestan have three types which are: the courtyard-shabestan, courtyard-arcade-shabestan, and the double-shabestan type. Furthermore, urban mosques follow the physical/spatial model of the rural types despite more detail, newer materials, and larger areas. Findings also show that the model of courtyard-arcade-shabestan is currently the most widely used and that the construction of double-shabestan mosques is dying out. The courtyard-shabestan type is still the model of simple mosques in low population areas.