Al-Askari Shrine: A Twelver Shiite Religious Complex in Iraq
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.8
- Popularity
- Medium
- Country
- Iraq
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- Abbasid, Buyid, Qajar, Safavid, Seljuk
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Tomb
On this page11 sections
History
The Al-Askari Shrine is a Twelver Shiite religious complex in Samarra, Iraq, associated with the Abbasid period and the burials of Ali al-Hadi and his son Hasan al-Askari. Twelver Shiism recognizes twelve divinely guided imams, and these two figures are traditionally regarded as the tenth and eleventh. The shrine developed from the house where Ali al-Hadi lived and was buried after arriving in Samarra in 848.
Abbasid Samarra and the Two Imams
Samarra became an Abbasid capital in 836, when the Abbasid dynasty ruled the Islamic caliphate, and remained the seat of government until the capital returned to Baghdad in the late ninth century. The city included a military district known as al-Askari. Ali al-Hadi was brought there from Medina in 848 and became associated with this military community, as did Hasan al-Askari, who later succeeded his father as the eleventh Twelver Imam.
Ali al-Hadi purchased a house in Samarra from the Abbasid architect Dalil ibn Yaqub al-Nasrani. After Ali died, he was buried there, and Hasan al-Askari was later laid to rest beside him. The house became the nucleus of the shrine. The complex also came to be associated with the burials of Hakima Khatun, Ali al-Hadi’s sister, Narjis Khatun, the mother of the Twelfth Imam, and other members of the imams’ families, including Ja‘far ibn Ali al-Hadi.
Because the burial house stood within or near a military garrison, early pilgrimage was conducted discreetly. Members of the household and their attendants administered the shrine until around 940. As Abbasid Samarra declined and large parts of the city were abandoned, buildings developed around the graves. These structures helped form the nucleus of modern Samarra. The shrine became a pilgrimage destination for Twelver Shiites and was also revered by Sunni Muslims in the city.
Early Endowments and Medieval Rebuilding
A first dome over the graves is attributed to Nasir al-Dawla al-Hamdani around 944–945. Further construction and endowment followed under rulers connected with the Hamdanids and Buyids, medieval dynasties that controlled parts of Iraq and supported religious and architectural projects. Interventions are attributed to Bakhtiyar ibn Mu‘izz al-Dawla in 949, Arslan al-Basasiri in 956, Barkiyaruq ibn Malikshah in 1102, and the Abbasid caliphs al-Nasir li-Din Allah in 1209 and al-Mustansir in the thirteenth century.
Later work included rebuilding associated with Abu Uways Hasan al-Jalairi in 1349 and Safavid patronage. Fires and other damage led to repeated repairs and reconstruction. Shah Sultan Husayn Safavi carried out work in 1695, continuing a long pattern in which the shrine was enlarged, repaired, and reworked while retaining its association with the two imams.
Reconstruction under the Dunbuli Rulers
The major premodern rebuilding began under Ahmad Khan al-Dunbuli around 1785–1786 and was completed by his son Husayn Quli Khan around 1810. Ahmad Khan ruled the Kurdish Dunbuli emirate, and his son continued his architectural program. Their work expanded the courtyards and porticoes, replaced timber elements with stone, and added a mosque, bathhouse, pilgrim hostel, and other facilities. It also changed access to the subterranean crypt associated with the former residence of the imams.
Patronage during the Qajar period brought additional renovation. Naser al-Din Shah ordered the renewal of the shrine screen and the gilding of the dome during the nineteenth century, while the minarets received glazed-tile decoration. Later improvements included mirror decoration, new paving, a large clock above Bab al-Qibla, and a religious school with other associated facilities.
Religious Learning and Modern Administration
Samarra regained religious and scholarly importance in the late nineteenth century after Muhammad Hasan al-Shirazi, a leading Shiite jurist, moved there in 1874. Scholars and students followed him, and the city became a center of Shiite teaching. His death in 1895 reduced Samarra’s educational importance, although the shrine continued to serve as a major religious institution.
Under the Hashemite monarchy, repairs and improvements were undertaken in 1941, 1948, and 1961. Later, water-pumping and electrical systems replaced the earlier reliance on water carried from the Tigris and lighting by candles and oil. During the twentieth century, custodianship was held by Hashemite families from Samarra. Administration later became contested between Iraq’s Sunni and Shiite religious endowments. After 2003, and especially after the 2006 bombing, government policy temporarily assigned administrative responsibility to the Shiite Endowment while hereditary custodial claims by the Samarra Hashemite family remained disputed.
Attacks and Reconstruction
On 22 February 2006, explosives destroyed the golden dome and severely damaged the shrine during the first Iraqi civil war, a period of sectarian conflict that spread widely through Iraq. The attack helped trigger extensive violence between religious communities. On 13 June 2007, a second attack destroyed the two surviving golden minarets.
Reconstruction followed with the participation of Iraqi governmental and religious bodies, UNESCO, and international partners. Work included protection, cleaning, documentation, storage of architectural elements, training, and rebuilding. Iraqi teams completed the rebuilt and regilded dome in 2015, while the minarets were restored by April 2009. A new shrine screen was unveiled in 2017. Sunni residents of Samarra also took part in reconstruction, which was presented as a form of social recovery, economic renewal, and opposition to sectarianism in post-2003 Iraq.
During the second Iraqi civil war, Samarra and the shrine again became centers of conflict. Threats from the Islamic State led to security arrangements associated with Popular Mobilization forces, and attempts were made to seize the city and shrine. The complex forms part of the Samarra Archaeological City, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2007 and placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger in the same year. Its religious continuity and connection with surviving Abbasid remains give it a wider place in the history of Samarra.
Remains
The Al-Askari Shrine is organized around a large enclosed courtyard, the domed burial sanctuary, the Great Mosque, the Mahdi Mosque and its crypt, porticoes, historic gates, and service and religious buildings. The principal courtyard is enclosed by a high, massive wall and is described as rectangular or square in plan. It contains a sequence of pointed-arch iwans, vaulted halls or recesses opening onto the courtyard, used for prayer, sermons, ceremonies, assemblies, and exhibitions. Descriptions give either 45 iwans in the principal courtyard or 62 across the larger complex.
Courtyards, Gates, and Porticoes
The present complex includes a principal courtyard measuring about 79 by 77 metres, a second courtyard with a large prayer hall measuring about 41 by 38.5 metres, and a third courtyard known as the Courtyard of the Occultation, measuring about 64 by 61.3 metres. The latter stands beside the Occultation Crypt. The southern enclosure contains Bab al-Qibla, the principal gate, with a room, an iwan, and a clock tower above it. Other entrances include Bab al-Murad, Bab al-Mahdi, Bab al-Salam, the gate to the Great Mosque, and Bab al-Dukhul.
Bab al-Qibla is a large teak gate with regular carved designs and an old clock enclosed in yellow aluminum. Bab al-Murad and Bab al-Mahdi are smaller, high gates decorated with glazed tiles from Karbala and Islamic inscriptions. Installed during the 2017 reconstruction, Bab al-Dukhul is about 4 metres high and 3 metres wide. It is made from Burmese teak, covered with gold, inscribed with Quranic verses and sayings attributed to the two imams, and finished with blue enamel, glass, and protective sealants. It weighs more than 1.5 tonnes.
The main portico is raised about one metre above the courtyard and measures approximately 33 by 10 metres. It is paved and partly faced with marble, while its remaining wall surfaces carry coloured glazed tiles, mirrors, geometric woodwork, and Arabic inscriptions, including the name of Ahmad Khan al-Dunbuli. The eastern and western porticoes were rebuilt in 2009. The western structure replaced a late-twentieth-century portico that had tilted and deteriorated. In 2016, the shrine’s iwans were rehabilitated with brick and Karbala tiles.
The Burial Sanctuary
The Rawda, or burial sanctuary, has an overall rectangular form of approximately 38 by 42 metres. Its central burial area is surrounded by the sanctuary and porticoes, with four interior doors leading toward visitor spaces and prayer areas. The graves of Ali al-Hadi and Hasan al-Askari are joined by those of Narjis Khatun and Hakima Khatun.
The burials are covered by wooden teak cenotaph chests, commemorative structures marking the graves, decorated with carved ivory. Successive metal screens enclose them, including an earlier steel screen attributed to the Safavid period and later silver and gilded screens. Several silver doors connect the sanctuary with the surrounding porticoes and prayer areas. The screens and related metalwork have been renewed more than once. One silver screen was transferred from the shrine of Husayn in Karbala after its replacement there and was later superseded by a new silver-gilt screen.
The lower sanctuary walls and floor are faced with polished marble. Higher surfaces and ceilings carry coloured mirrors, geometric woodwork, mosaics, stucco, and bands of Arabic inscriptions. These include Quranic passages, the names of the Prophet Muhammad, Fatima, and the Twelve Imams, as well as Persian verses praising the Prophet’s family. The main entrance passes through the Gold Iwan, a large vaulted hall facing the direction of prayer. It opens into a richly decorated portico with geometric designs, stepped architectural forms known as muqarnas, mirrors, vaults, arches, small domes, and small windows.
Dome and Minarets
The principal dome is bulbous in form and covered externally with gold sheets. It is approximately 20 metres in diameter and between 64 and 68 metres high. A band of Quranic inscription, including the opening of the Victory chapter, runs across its exterior. Inside, geometric mirror work, elaborate carpentry, Quranic inscriptions, the names of the Twelve Imams, and Persian poetry cover the dome’s surfaces.
Two cylindrical minarets flank the southern end of the main iwan. They are decorated with coloured glazed tiles and gold, carry bands of Arabic inscription, and are described as approximately 25 to 36 metres high. Specifications for the wider complex also record four minarets. The principal dome and the two main minarets were destroyed or severely damaged in the attacks of 2006 and 2007 before being reconstructed and regilded.
Mahdi Mosque and Occultation Crypt
The Mahdi Mosque and the Occultation Crypt stand on the western side of the complex. The mosque contains separate summer and winter prayer areas and a second dome decorated with coloured glazed tiles. The crypt is a subterranean archaeological structure belonging to the former residence of the imams. It lies west of the shrine, on the northern side of the military courtyard, and contains a prayer niche. The three imams used it as a cool refuge during summer.
A decorated wooden door remains in the crypt. It is attributed to the Abbasid period and to the reign of either al-Nasir or al-Mustansir, and its carved surface contains artistic inscriptions. The crypt also includes a wooden screen and ten marble-paved steps leading to a lower landing. During the reconstruction under Husayn Quli Khan al-Dunbuli, the former route from the sanctuary through an underground passage was closed. A northern entrance and portico were created instead. The earlier wooden door was later replaced by a silver door and reused at the mosque entrance.
