Vali-e Asr Mosque

Vali-e Asr Mosque (may God hasten his reappearance) is one of the historical and religious buildings surviving from the Pahlavi era in Khorramshahr County, Khuzestan Province. It stands near the village of Khin on the Shalamcheh road, next to the Nahr-e Khin Martyrs' Memorial. During the Iran-Iraq War the building also served a military purpose and was used as a bunker, so the marks and scars of the Sacred Defense years can still be seen on its structure. Vali-e Asr Mosque was added to Iran's National Heritage List on 8 Dey 1390 under registration number 30768. Today, besides its architectural value, it is part of the cultural tourism and Sacred Defense tourism offering of the Khorramshahr area.

Of the mosque's main building, only the prayer hall (shabestan) and the entrance portal remain; the courtyard walls and other parts of the structure have been lost. The entrance portal has a pointed arch of the blunt trefoil type, decorated with a combination of brick and tile in the Moaqeli style. Only a small part of its green and blue tiles survives today. The prayer hall has entrances with pointed arches and a pomegranate-shaped (nar) dome with a pointed profile and a single shell. On its exterior are buttress-like columns that also helped strengthen the building. Inside the prayer hall, blind arches were built to create airflow suited to the region's climate. Parts of the raised stucco work and the mihrab, with arabesque and geometric patterns and Quranic verses, also remain. Before the war there was also a tourist town called Vali-e Asr and the village of Khin around the Nahr-e Khin canal. Much of it has since disappeared, and the mosque, together with an old cemetery, is one of the few remains of that area.

To visit Vali-e Asr Mosque, head from Khorramshahr toward the Shalamcheh road. You will reach this historical building in the area of Khin village and the Nahr-e Khin Martyrs' Memorial. Because the mosque stands beside the Nahr-e Khin memorial, a visit can be combined with a Sacred Defense tour and visits to other memorials in the region. The best time to visit is the cooler part of the year, especially autumn, winter and early spring, because the intense summer heat of Khuzestan can make walking around outdoors difficult. When visiting, please respect the building's historical and religious value. Do not damage the surviving parts, move historical materials or tiles, or write graffiti on the walls, and preserve the dignity of the memorial site and the remains linked to the Sacred Defense era.