Masjed Jame – Semnan

The extraordinarily high, if austere, west iwan of the Masjed-e Jameh dates from a 1424 rebuild, rising above a bare-brick octagonal prayer hall. But the mosque’s most lovable feature is older: the gorgeous, 32m-tall patterned-brick minaret, which is still standing after more than a millennium, albeit leaning and a bit kinked. If you ask the caretaker, it's possible to peep inside the subterranean chehel sotun prayer hall – whitewashed and somewhat plain, but thought to predate the mosque.