Ghiasieh School

As one of the historical monuments in Razavi Khorasan Province, Ghiasieh School is located in the southern margin of Khargerd, 5 km away from Khaf city near Afghanistan border with 146 km distance from Mashhad.

Khargerd Ghiasieh school in Razavi Khorasan is one of the brick buildings built during the reign of Shahrokh Teymouri by the efforts of Pir Ahmad Khafi, and Ghavam Al-din from 1463 to 1468; these two artists and architects used all their talent and art in creating this magnificent building that is unique in its kind. During its heyday, this school was considered as one of the best Islamic universities that educated many scientists. Unfortunately, after the rise of the Safavid dynasty, this school lost its prosperity after 60 years due to the strong prejudices of the Safavid kings.

There are controversies among historians about the meaning of Khargerd. Some believe that Khargerd literally means Khorgerd as khor here means sun and gerd means city, So Khorgerd means the city of the sun; however, some others believe that Khar means great here, so Khargerd means a big city; interestingly, others have interpreted Khargerd as the city of knowledge and wisdom.

Ghiasieh School5

Ghiasieh School Architecture

Ghiasieh School is a building that has a rectangular plan with dimensions of 44 by 56 meters. The courtyard has four porches, which are about 11 meters high. The walls of the courtyard are tiled and there are 32 rooms that are built on two floors around this courtyard; rooms with domed roofs have been built in the four corners of the courtyard, and 8 holes can be seen at the base of these domes to illuminate the space. On both sides of the entrance porch, there are two large halls that are used as a mosque and school. The hall on the right is the mosque and the hall on the left is the meeting hall of this school; there is also a porch with a domed roof between the two rooms. The main entrance porch of the school leads to two large rooms from the right and left, these rooms, which have a domed roof, are decorated with mosaic tiles and plaster moqarnas. In the construction of the main facade of Ghiasieh entrance, beautiful tiles and decorations have been used; as a result, it has more splendor than other parts of the building. The Qibla porch is the largest porch of this building, with the names of its architects engraved on an inscription in Naskh script, and the end part of the porches is decorated with Moqarnas and plastering. One of the most important features of this building is the use of mosaic decorations and the appropriate combination of bricks and tiles in its exterior. Undoubtedly, Ghiasieh School can be called one of the most complete works of art and architecture in Iran among other schools. The style and variety of architectural elements and the precision in creating this monument have made it so prominent among researchers that many researchers have analyzed, studied, and praised it.