Eagle mountain is the indicator of Taft city; moving away from Yazd city, after half an hour, an eagle sitting over the entrance welcomes the travelers. Taft is a mountainous city with flowing Qanats, fruit gardens and extensive fields which is one of the most pleasant regions in Yazd province. It also includes countryside areas like Sanij and Deh Bala where you can feel the coldness of the weather even in the middle of summer.
There is a complex remained of the ninth century in the center of the city, called Shah Vali, which is obviously related to Shah Nemat Allah Vali. The main building was constructed in the early ninth century when Shah Nemat Allah Vali passed through the region. It included a yard and the mansion of Khanghah. Ever since the place became a religious foundation and a place for teaching Sufis. Attaching some chambers to the main building made it necessary to build a kitchen as well as a large bathhouse. Khanesh Beygom, Shah Tahmasb I’s sister, ordered a mosque next to other buildings and the complex was completed with a caravanserai, cistern and bazaar some years later.
Passing through Hosseineh, that is like a square where you can see the crowd during Moharram, you will reach a large iron arched door with walls decorated in glazed blue tiles. There is a wooden door, right next to the metal one, on which the name of Mohammad has been carved. The beautiful door also includes a Naskh inscription with the name of twelve Imams. The construction materials used in the building are adobe, brick and stone decorated in azure blue and turquoise tiles, and erected in form of a two-story building. Remained of Safavid empire, the mosque includes two summer and winter prayer halls. The summer one is placed in the west. The roof is made of vaults and it has also a high porch and dome. The dome is made of simple, glazed green and azure blue bricks on which a place for proclaiming Adhan had been added. Somewhere dedicated to muezzins of the city who had to go up the stairs in order to reach the point. It is not still visible. The mosque lacks complicated decorations. The dado of walls is covered in polygon turquoise tiles up to a meter from the ground. The dados have changed the simplicity of the walls.
Shah Vali mosque includes a simple alter without any kind of stucco and Muqarnas. The only coverage is a simple white stone with some verses of Quran. However, there is a line of well-designed stucco over the alter originally planned for lighting. The date 1339 is visible on the margin of the later and a wooden pulpit adorned with star pattern is another remarkable element in the mosque.
Reputed currently as Jama Mosque of Taft, Shah Vali Mosque is visited by a lot of tourists every year. That is why the restoration and reconstruction of the complex is properly taken into consideration. The building was included in the list of Iran National Heritage in 1346. (No. 771).