What is Mogharnas?

Mogharnas is one of the decorative elements of architecture that plays an important role in beautifying Iranian buildings, especially mosques and tombs. Mogharnas are used as classrooms that are built together to decorate buildings or to gradually transform from one geometric form to another. Mogharnas can be considered as one of the effective elements in the construction of domes, which later lost its original use and was mostly used for decoration. Mogharnas usually work on submerged surfaces beneath the ceiling, but the placement of this decorative element can be on top of walls, ceilings, corners, and the like. Some architects have also used Mogharnas on the front of buildings and have mastered the skill of constructing them to the point that they do not allow the building to be heavy and put pressure on the foundation.
Mogharnas is a kind of ornamentation with dents and bumps that hang in the form of stalactites in some cases, and in fact this type of architectural decoration is a kind of volume decoration. In fact, Mogharnas is a three-dimensional embodiment of the geometric roles and nodes of Chinese architecture and Islamic art.
The application of Mogharnas grew mainly in Islamic architecture in Iran and in the Islamic and Arab countries.