Baghie

Shias and sunnis started visiting there for pilgrimage of his grave. By the end of the 9th century a dome was built on the grave and many buildings and Bazaars sprang up around it. During more than a millennium it has been devastated and reconstructed several times.

In 993 the holy shrine was ruined by Saboktakin, a Ghaznavid king. However in 1009 his son Sultan Mahmoud Ghaznavi ordered the shrine to be repaired and expanded. About 1150 Sultan Sanjar, a Seljuk king, renovated the sanctuary and added new buildings after miraculous healing of his son in the shrine. Later Sultan Muhammad Khodabande, an Ilkhanate king, who converted to Shiism renovated the holy shrine about 1310. The celebrated Muslim traveler Ibn Battuta visited Mashhad in 1333 and reported that it was a large town with abundant fruit trees, streams and mills. A great dome of elegant construction surmounts the noble mausoleum, the walls being decorated with colored tiles. Opposite the tomb of the Imam is the tomb of Caliph Harun al-Rashid, which is surmounted by a platform bearing chandeliers.

Later on, in the 1400s during the Shahrokh era, it became one of the main cities of the Timurid dynasty. In 1418 his wife Goharshad funded the construction of an outstanding mosque beside the shrine, which is known as the Goharshad Mosque.

The shrine is depicted on the reverse of the Iranian 100 rials coin, issued since 2004.

Courtyards (Sahn)

The complex contains a total of seven courtyards, which cover an area of 331,578 m2 (3,569,080 sq ft):

 Sahn Inqilab - Revolution Courtyard

Sahn Azadi - Freedom Courtyard

Sahn Imam Khomeini

 Sahn Gowharshad Mosque

 Sahn Quds

 Sahn Jumhuri Islami - Islamic Republic Courtyard

 Sahn Jameh Razavi - The Razavi Grand Courtyard

The courtyards also contain a total of 14 minarets, and 3 fountains.

Halls

From the courtyards, external hallways named after scholars lead to the inner areas of the mosque. They are referred to as Bast (Sanctuary), since they were meant to be a safeguard for the shrine areas:

 Bast Shaykh Toosi - leads to the Central Library

 Bast Shaykh Tabarsi

 Bast Shaykh Hur Ameli

Bast Shaykh Baha'i

The Bast hallways lead towards a total of 21 internal halls (Riwaq) which surround the burial chamber of Ali al-Reza. Adjacent to the burial chamber is also a mosque dating back to the 10th century known as, Bala-e-Sar Mosque.