Merritt-Hawkes is the American writer and Journalist who travelled to Iran during the reign of Reza Shah Pahlavi and visited the cities of Boushehr, Shiraz, Isfahan, Yazd, Kerman, Qom, Tehran, and the northern parts of Iran.
She recounts the story of her going to the top of the Abbasi Jame Mosque’s minaret in her book “Persia: Romance and reality” as follows:
In order to see the repairs carried out on the beautiful minaret that had started to crumble from the outer side of the mosque, we climbed its stairwell.
Isfahan was under our feet with its dark coloured houses, green trees, and the fertile plain surrounding it.
I was told that to better see the repairs, if possible, I should climb the dome of the minaret. I tried but my foot slipped.
For a moment, I thought I had fallen down, amongst the people that seemed smaller than ants, and I saw one of those present smiling victoriously.
Without doubt, he thought of me as spineless and incompetent, just like any other woman!
I took off my shoes and climbed up quickly using a rope as thin as a wire, which a kind worker had hung out for me.
