The physical setting for Ahmad-i Jam’s shrine is sketched. The shrine lay in the middle of a perilous tract of Greater Iran (Iranshahr), one that witnessed the crisscrossing of armies from Europe and Asia. Paradoxically, while post-Mongol Khurasan lay in ruins, the shrine’s first major edifice was erected in 633/1236. Consequent to Ilkhanid-, Kartid-, and Timurid-period benefactions, an eclectic architectural ensemble characterized the shrine, which became a shrine complex. The architectural contours were frozen (ca. 844–46/1440–43). Recent developments – facilitated partly by the Islamic Republic of Iran – have “unfrozen” the architectural contours. The architectural ensemble and the administration of Ahmad-i Jam’s shrine are described.