Ribat of Sharaf
رباط شرف
Ribat of Sharaf in 2013
General information
Type	Ribat, Caravanserai
Architectural style	Razi style, Iranian architecture
Location	Sarakhs, Khorasan-e Razavi Province, Iran,
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Part of	The Persian Caravanserai
Criteria	(ii)(iii)
Reference	1668
Inscription	2023 (45th Session)

The Ribat of Sharaf (Persian: رباط شرف, lit. 'Robat-i Sharaf or Robat-e Sharaf') is a historical ribat, or rest place for travellers, located in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran, between Merv and Nishapur. Built in the 12th century (circa 1114), the building looks like a fortified rectangle from the exterior.^[1] The courtyard and four-iwan floorplan is that of the traditional standard Iranian mosque. The walls and the pishtaq (پیشطاق), the entrance way inside an iwan, are decorated with vegetal and geometric patterning that function to provide a good example of the "Textile Metaphor" seen in Islamic architecture of this era. The caravanserai consists of two inter-related four Iwan planned courtyards, famous for owning some of the most diverse and beautiful brick decorations in Iranian architecture.

See also

• Islamic architecture
• Islamic art
• Robat (disambiguation)
• Timeline of Islamic history

References

36°15′59″N 60°39′20″E / 36.2664°N 60.6555°E / 36.2664; 60.6555