Mohammadreza Domiri Ganji — Photographer & visual artist — historic architecture, light and geometry

The dome of the Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque, Isfahan, seen from directly below: a golden lattice of tiles narrowing to a central medallion, ringed by turquoise-edged arches.
Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque  —  Isfahan, Iran

Introduction

Domes, vaults, muqarnas and painted ceilings — photographed from their centre.

Mohammadreza Domiri Ganji explores the relationship between light, space and geometry through panoramic and wide-angle photography: first in Iran, and since 2024 in the historic monuments of France.

Construction drawing of the emblem: an eight-pointed star inscribed in the circle of a dome, ribs converging on a central oculus. 45°R A 1 A 1
Fig. 0The emblem of this site, drawn from the ceilings: an eight-pointed star set in the circle of the dome, converging on the oculus — the point every photograph looks toward.

02 The series

The series

  1. ICelestial TapestriesCeilings of France · since 2024
  2. IIMoqarnas Atlas of IranMuqarnas vaults of Iran · 2025
  3. IIIL’Écho du TempsGreat interiors of France · 2025
  4. IVLyonThe city and its monuments
  5. VIranPersian Nocturnes · Orosi · Pardis · Lenj · Ceilings

Mohammadreza Domiri GanjiISeries — France

Series I

Celestial Tapestries An Ode to the Infinite

Place
France
Years
2024 — ongoing
Subject
Ceilings of museums, theatres, cathedrals and historic halls
A church ceiling in France photographed straight up along its central axis: gilded vaults and mosaic medallions, stained-glass windows at both ends and columns converging from every side.
Pl. ICelestial Tapestries, FranceSeries I

Transcending the boundaries of time and place, Celestial Tapestries transforms the ceilings of France’s historic monuments into portals of ethereal wonder. Each photo unveils a cosmos woven from gilded details, frescoes, and stained glass — an orchestration of light and form that distills centuries of devotion to craft and beauty.

From the artist’s statement
Domes and coffered vaults of a French church seen from below, arranged symmetrically around a central rib.
Pl. IICelestial Tapestries
A Gothic vault painted with stars, ribs radiating between walls of violet and blue stained glass.
Pl. IIICelestial Tapestries
Three gilded coffered domes in a row, each pierced by a bright oculus, framed by columns.
Pl. IVCelestial Tapestries

Enter the series

Mohammadreza Domiri GanjiIISeries — Iran

Series II

Moqarnas Atlas of Iran

Moqarnas across Iran’s historic cities, photographed in bazaars, mosque portals, domes, and palace halls. Each frame is centered and leveled to read the vault as a measured section. Tiered cells resolve the square to the dome while breaking light into facets.

Place
Historic cities of Iran
Year
2025
Next
In preparation for exhibition
Pl. V — Figures 1 to 9Brick · glazed tile · paint · mirrorwork
  1. A rose-tinted moqarnas vault whose star pattern converges on a central rosette.Fig. 1
  2. Turquoise-tiled moqarnas cells cascading down a portal vault.Fig. 2
  3. Deep blue and white tiled moqarnas of a mosque portal, centred on a turquoise star.Fig. 3
  4. Golden moqarnas niches lit warmly, tiers stepping down towards an inscription panel.Fig. 4
  5. Ochre brick-patterned vault where ribs form a radiating star.Fig. 5
  6. A pointed-arch portal framed by blue tile, with a honey-coloured moqarnas hood above a small window.Fig. 6
  7. Faceted moqarnas cells glittering in warm light beneath a ceiling.Fig. 7
  8. Pink, blue and white floral-tiled moqarnas in many small tiers.Fig. 8
  9. A tiled portal whose moqarnas hood descends in stepped cells to an inscribed panel.Fig. 9
Ornament is treated as structure, and structure as cultural record.From the artist’s statement

Open the atlas

Mohammadreza Domiri GanjiIIISeries — Paris, Versailles, Lyon

The grand staircase of the Palais Garnier in Paris, symmetrical and golden, with visitors dissolved by a long exposure into translucent traces on the steps.
Pl. VIPalais Garnier, ParisL’Écho du Temps
Series III

L’Écho
du Temps The Echo of Time

Places
Palais Garnier, Sainte-Chapelle, Panthéon, Versailles, Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourvière
Method
Wide lens, slow shutter
Year
2025

Time is a thief and a sculptor — stealing us away, yet carving us into the stone of eternity.

From the artist’s statement

With a wide lens and the patience of a monk transcribing scripture, I wield slow shutter speeds to unravel time itself. Human figures dissolve into spectral traces — ghosts of motion haunting the frame, their blurred edges a testament to our transience.

Enter the series

The upper chapel of the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, walls of stained glass above a crowd blurred into motion.
Pl. VIISainte-Chapelle, Paris
Inside the Panthéon in Paris: a marble floor of concentric Greek-key circles, columns and sculpture beyond, visitors as moving shadows.
Pl. VIIIPanthéon, Paris

Mohammadreza Domiri GanjiIVSeries — Lyon

Series IV

Lyon The city and its monuments

Lyon, photographed over several stays in the city: the Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourvière inside and out, Vieux Lyon and the Croix-Rousse, the quays of the Saône and the Rhône, and the modern Confluence — from first light to nightfall.

Subject
Lyon, its monuments and its two rivers
Form
Photographic series · 39 photographs
Status
Ongoing

Enter the series

The gilded ceiling of the Hôtel de Ville de Lyon seen from directly below, framed by chandeliers.The vaults of the Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourvière seen from directly below.Église Saint-Georges and the Passerelle Saint-Georges mirrored in the Saône, Lyon.The colonnade of the Palais de Justice at dusk, Lyon.The Part-Dieu towers with the Alps on the horizon, Lyon.Église Saint-Georges and the Passerelle Saint-Georges at nightfall, Lyon.
Lyon — six of thirty-nine photographsFourvière · Hôtel de Ville · Saint-Georges

Mohammadreza Domiri GanjiVSeries — Iran

The Vakil Mosque in Shiraz folded into a spherical view: four tiled vaults open like petals around a small planet of spiral-carved columns.
Pl. XInfinite Dimensions, Vakil Mosque, ShirazShiraz
Series V

Iran Series and galleries

Where the work began: the domes and vaults of Isfahan, the coloured light of Shiraz, the houses of Kashan, the windcatchers of Yazd, the capital old and new — and the monuments of Persia under the night sky.

  1. iPersian NocturnesMonuments of Iran under the night sky
  2. iiOrosi — Colour and LightColour and light through stained glass
  3. iiiPardis — The Persian GardenWater, pools and pavilions
  4. ivLenj — Wooden Boats of the Persian GulfShipyard, boats and crews
  5. vCeilingsDomes, vaults and painted ceilings, seen from their centre
  6. viIsfahanUnder the domes of Isfahan
  7. viiShirazFrom the morning light of Nasir al-Mulk to sunset in the Eram Garden
  8. viiiTehranThe capital, old and new
  9. ixKashan & YazdHouses, bazaars and the desert cities

All the galleries

Si-o-se Pol at night, reflected in the Zayandeh River
Pl. XIIsfahan
Si-o-se Pol at night
A carpet repair workshop: craftsmen at work among piles of Persian carpets under a high, worn ceiling.
Pl. XIIShiraz
Carpet Repair Workshop
Qara Kelisa (St Thaddeus Monastery) at night
Pl. XIIIPersian Nocturnes
Qara Kelisa under a winter sky
Nasir al-Mulk Mosque, winter prayer hall — morning light through the orosi onto the carpets
Pl. XIVOrosi — Colour and Light
Nasir al-Mulk Mosque — morning light through the orosi

Mohammadreza Domiri Ganji03Index of the galleries

03 Galleries

The archive,
by subject and by place

Every photograph has a page of its own — its place, its story and its light.

By subject

By place

All galleries

Mohammadreza Domiri Ganji04Plates — Iran

04 Plates

Selected works

Domes, vaults and night skies — photographs from the galleries of Iran.

The dome of Timcheh Amin od-Dowleh in Kashan Bazaar: a brick and plaster star of moqarnas cells around a bright oculus open to the sky.
Pl. XVTimcheh Amin od-DowlehKashan Bazaar, IranArchitecture
The stone Tomb of Cyrus the Great at Pasargadae under a night sky crossed by the Milky Way.
Pl. XVITomb of Cyrus the GreatPasargadae, Fars, IranNight Shots
Panorama of the prayer hall of Nasir al-Mulk Mosque in Shiraz, carpets flooded with coloured light from stained-glass windows between twisted columns.
Pl. XVIINasir al-Mulk MosqueShiraz, Iran — morning light through the stained glassShiraz · Panorama

05 Practice

In France

Mohammadreza Domiri Ganji lives and works in Nice. Since 2024 he has been documenting the historic architecture of France — the ceilings of its monuments in Celestial Tapestries, its great interiors in L’Écho du Temps. Lyon is the subject of an ongoing series, and the Moqarnas project is being prepared for exhibition.

Nice · Alpes-Maritimes · France

About the artist

Vakil Mosque in Shiraz seen from the floor as a four-fold mandala: carved spiral columns radiate toward a tiled vault at the centre.
Signed & numbered
Pl. XVIIIVakil Mosque, Shiraz

06 Prints & licensing

For the wall, for the page

Selected photographs are available as signed, limited-edition fine-art prints, and under licence for editorial, exhibition and commercial use. Each request is answered personally.

Prints & licensingAsk about a photograph

Mohammadreza Domiri Ganji07Journal

07 Journal

Notes from the field

Stories behind the photographs — the places, their history, and how the images were made.

· Shiraz

Nasir-Al-Mulk Mosque in Shiraz

Built in the Qajar era, its eastern hall of twelve columns fills with colour when the low sun of autumn and winter passes through the stained glass.

The journal

08 — Nocturne

We enter. We marvel. We fade. Yet they endure.

From the artist’s statement, L’Écho du Temps

Panorama of Persepolis at night: the stone doorways of the palace lit warm against a deep blue sky, the Milky Way rising vertically above the centre.
Pl. XIXPersepolis, under the Milky WayFars, IranNight Shots · Persian Nocturnes

Exhibitions, commissions, prints and licences — write to the studio.

Contact