Early in the 1100s, a local mullah had a vision that Ali was buried in a tomb near Bakh in Northern Afghanistan. A shrine was erected, then levelled by Gengis Khan, but in 1481 the Sultan of Herat built the great Blue Mosque, the Mazar-e-Sharif (“Tomb of the Exalted”). Since then, a workshop next to the Mosque is kept busy making and replacing any missing or damaged tiles.

Note: this is the original caption from Wikipedia. Nowruz is Persian New Year

Thousands of white pigeons live on the grounds of the Mosque and are fed daily.

1 By Sgt. Kimberly Lamb (U.S. Armed Forces) – This image was released by the United States Army with the ID 120403-A-LE308-005 Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20390766

By ISAF Headquarters Public Affairs Office from Kabul, Afghanistan – Flickr, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8502614

3 By Afghanistan Matters from Brunssum, Netherlands – HiddenUploaded by GiW, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29783227

4 By Brian H. Neely – U.S Embassy Kabul Afghanistan’s photostream – Special Envoy Rashad Hussain, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22499835

5 By Peretz Partensky from San Francisco, USA – Festooned to the Nowruz Max, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=245681875

By Michal Hvorecky from Slovak Republic – The mosaic, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12610690

By Brian H. Neely – U.S Embassy Kabul Afghanistan’s photostream – Special Envoy Rashad Hussain, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22499727