Great Mosque of Herat

Friday mosque (Masjid-i Jami) of Herat, western Afghanistan. Dervla Murphy’s hour of peace in its courtyard in Full Tilt.

At a glance

Source	Author	Role	In one line
Full Tilt	Dervla Murphy	subject	An hour in the courtyard among mosaics and martins makes up for being barred at Meshed.

Full Tilt — Dervla Murphy (1965)

Source: Full Tilt - Ireland to India With a Bicycle · Original · Readwise highlight

I sat on the shady side of the enormous courtyard for almost an hour, enjoying the mosaics and the gold of the brickwork glowing against the blue sky.

• Role: subject
• In the book: The author, free to enter this mosque without a camera, sits for an hour in its enormous courtyard among the mosaics and martins. She judges it so beautiful that it makes up for the frustration of being barred at Meshed.
• Why it matters: A rare uninterrupted moment of peace and aesthetic payoff after the Persian bureaucratic frustrations; it sets Herat as the high point against which later Afghan towns are measured.