Part One
TRANSOXANIA AND KHURASAN
(G. A. Pugachenkova)

Part Two
SOUTHERN CENTRAL ASIA
(A. H. Dani)

Part Three
EASTERN CENTRAL ASIA
(Liu Yingsheng)

Building activity throughout Central Asia was brought to a halt for almost a century by the Mongol conquests, which led to the destruction of towns and villages. A few buildings were nevertheless erected: for example, the Bukharan protg of the Mongol Khans, Mas^cd Yalavach, and his mother built two large madrasas in Bukhara. Overall, however, it was not until the fourteenth century that there was some recovery from the state of devastation, with a resumption of building activity.

Khwarazm developed particularly at that period. Its capital, Urgench, lay on one of the main trade routes, stretching from the Volga to Transoxania and Khurasan. Building proceeded at a vigorous rate under the rule of Kutlugh Timur (1321–33), actively assisted by his wife Tra Beg Khnum, and thereafter under the local ruling Sufi dynasty. The town’s development was only ended by Timur’s predatory campaigns.

The architecture of the fourteenth century is characterized by new construction techniques and architectural approaches. Baked brick remained the material employed in monumental architecture but new techniques were evolved for the construction of vaults and domes: for example, the system of triple-shelled domes. Architectural decoration changed completely with the use of multicoloured glazed tiles, enamelled bricks and slabs and glazed, carved terracotta. Multicoloured majolica appears from the 1360s, sometimes with gold paint and engobe applied over the glaze and inlaid carved mosaics, made from a (silicate) slurry, in the most striking colours (dark blue, sky-blue, yellow, green and also black and white) (Fig. 2).

The structure of civil edifices remained as before but our only knowledge of the subject is obtained from the written sources (for example, a reference to a vast palace in Karshi). Only a few examples of religious and memorial architecture have survived.

Single-chamber domed mausoleums are now rare. Most have two or more chambers: the gr-khna (the actual tomb) and the ziyrat-khna (oratory). Thus two mausoleums standing side by side in Bukhara, the Buyan Quli Khan mausoleum (1356) and the slightly later mausoleum of Sayf al-Din Bkharzi, each have two chambers and the former also has lateral corridors. Even more elaborate is the design of the mausoleum of Muhammad Bashar (western Tajikistan), which, in addition to the central ziyrat-khna, has a further seven chambers containing tombs or else fulfilling secondary functions. These and a number of other sepulchres are decorated with multicoloured tiles.

The Friday mosques of Samarkand and Herat, which had fallen into decay, were restored in the fourteenth century (Fig. 3). In Urgench, Tra Beg Khnum rebuilt the Friday mosque and, next to it, the 60 m-high minaret named after her husband, Kutlugh Timur, which has survived to the present day. The khnaqh of Shaykh Najm al-Din Kubr, the founder of the Sufi Kubrawi order, was also built at that period. It has four rooms: the central chamber contains the tomb of the shaykh and the others were clearly used for dervish assemblies and rites. The main faade has a well-proportioned, projecting portal whose vaulting is set in a decorative frame and is surmounted by a stalactite cornice. Multicoloured majolica covered with elaborate, interwoven plant and flower patterns and inscriptions in the mannered dwn script decorate the facing of the portal as well as the sagan (stepped tombstone) and stela of the shaykh.

The architectural masterpiece at Kunya-Urgench, referred to as the mausoleum of Tra Beg Khnum, is actually the family mausoleum of the Sufi rulers (1360s). The elegant portal leads to a small vestibule beyond which lies the 10-sided prism of the ziyrat-khna, occupying the dominant position in the overall design, and the small gr-khna. The system of domes is worthy of note: an inner decorative dome and an inner structural dome, both bowl-shaped, and an outer conical dome resting on a cylindrical drum. Brick and carved inlaid mosaic are the principal elements in the decorative scheme and are employed in particular profusion on the inner dome, where a girih star pattern is developed on the bowl.

One of the few buildings in Khurasan dating from that time is the mausoleum of Shaykh Muhammad Luqmn at Sarakhs. This is a structure of monumental proportions whose square mass is crowned by a huge dome. The entrance is delineated by a portal, and baked brick is the dominant element in the structure throughout. It is similar in type to the mausoleum of Sultan Sanjar in Merv (Fig. 4), which was built by an architect from Sarakhs.

The traditional forms of pre-Mongol architecture were also used for buildings in parts of northern Turkistan where a nomadic population was dominant. One example is the Gumbez Manas (1334) in the valley of the Talas. Its cuboid volume is surmounted by a faceted dome resting on a faceted drum. The principle faade is elevated and adorned with unglazed terracotta tiles; the motifs employed resemble ksh (tile) ornament.

TIMUR AND HIS SUCCESSORS

The unparalleled growth in architectural and engineering construction continued during the period of Timur’s rule but was concentrated in Samarkand and his native town of Shahr-i Sabz. Only individual buildings were constructed in Bukhara (Chashma-Ayyub) and on the frontier of the nomadic world at Yasa (the mausoleum of Ahmad Yasawi, see Fig. 5), whereas, like the countries of the Near East which had been plundered during Timur’s campaigns, Khwarazm and Khurasan had not regained sufficient strength during this period even to make good their losses. In his own capital Timur commissioned grandiose building projects, designed to demonstrate his power to contemporaries and descendants alike. Enormous resources extracted from the plunder seized in the course of his campaigns were invested in these projects, and the best architectural craftsmen and a mass labour force brought from subjugated countries were forcibly assigned to the task. Despite the context of conscription, the combined skills of the craftsmen and the fresh opportunities for creative fulfilment shaped a new style of architecture in which every element was required to be the epitome of grandeur, magnificence and beauty.

The situation changed after the death in 1405 of the Ruler of the World. Under his successor, Shh Rukh (1405–47), the role of the major appanages became established; held by his sons and nephews, each had its town capital, court and patron for building projects. Thus in the Central Asian region, Khurasan with its capital, Herat, and Transoxania with its capital, Samarkand, were domains of this sort. In Samarkand, Ulugh Beg (prince in Transoxania 1409–47, ruler in Transoxania and Khurasan 1447–9) became the initiator of architectural projects, a role which was performed in Herat by his parents Shh Rukh and Gawhar Shd. Khwarazm did not recover, however, and remained a backwater for centuries. Building activity declined in Samarkand in the second half of the fifteenth century and by the end of the century had practically ceased. Herat at the same time experienced an unprecedented expansion in all areas of culture under the rule of Sultn Husayn Bayqara (1469–1506). This development is particularly evident in architecture.

TOWNS AND TOWN-PLANNING

During the reign of Timur and the Timurids, clear principles were developed in the area of town-planning. When a town was re-established it was given a proper geometric plan. That was true of the building under Shh Rukh of the new town of Merv (the site of ^cAbd Allh Khn Qal^ca) situated to the south of the pre-Mongol Sultan-Qal^ca. The square layout was bisected by the main street, which ran from one gate to the other, and both of the resulting halves were subdivided by streets leading off at right angles. There were hawzs (water cisterns) and an underground town-sewage system. The town was surrounded by a ditch and walls with regularly placed semicircular towers and the gates were fortified. In the middle of the fifteenth century, in response to the growth in population, the town was expanded to the south-west by order of the Timurid Mirz Sanjar with the construction of an adjoining new area, similarly fortified and rectangular in plan.

Towns which had grown up at an earlier period continued to expand around their old core but certain changes occurred in their planning and development. In Samarkand, for example, the old shahr-i darn, the shahr-i birn and part of the rabad were grouped together in a hisr (inner city enclosed by walls). Within the hisr, a qal^ca (citadel) was set up in 1370 under Timur, containing the main government buildings, the arsenal, the armourers’ workshops, two palaces and also premises where members of the nobility were detained. In 1404, on Timur’s instructions, work began in the hisr to drive a straight road from one gate to the other. By his death it had reached the centre of the town, and work was then discontinued.

The hisr in Herat was also ringed by walls in 1405, and in 1415 a start was made on the transformation of the old citadel of Ikhtiyr al-Din: the fortifications were entirely rebuilt and new buildings were erected inside the walls (Fig. 6). Under Shh Rukh, the town’s main streets were straightened and the bazaars at their intersections reorganized. The main, walled rectangle of the town was divided into four parts with a regular internal plan in each part.

VAULTS AND DOMES

From Timur’s day vigorous building activity and the grandiose nature of their assignments presented architects with problems demanding new engineering solutions. These are particularly evident in the systems of vaults and domes. If the transition from the square plan to the dome was initially effected by means of the traditional octagon of arched pendentives, a system of shield-shaped pendentives subsequently made its appearance. Then, in the second third of the fifteenth century, a distinctive design of four intersecting, strengthened arches was developed, which reduced the diameter of the dome and at the same time expanded the total volume of the structure by means of the deep niches inserted between them. This design is combined with various types of shield-shaped pendentives and stalactite moulding, providing an effective plastic transition to the sloping bowl of the inner dome, An outer dome was usually raised above this on a high cylindrical drum: its weight and thrust were distributed by a system of internal ribs (Figs. 5 Bressand).

ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENTATION

Decoration at this period included a variety of facings made of glazed brick, majolica and carved, inlaid mosaic. Interiors were covered in polychrome painting, which made lavish use of gold; one particular variety known as kundal also features relief ornament. In the first half of the fifteenth century, dark-blue linear painting on a white background was used in imitation of Chinese porcelain. Wood continued to play an important role in the construction of everyday buildings; columns and ceilings were made of wood, frequently carved or painted (for example, the carved columns from Turkistan and Khiva). Aesthetic stone working was brought from Azerbaijan. and India; marble, Jasper and onyx were used for panels, carved decorative slabs and even columns. Ornamental motifs were, as before, geometric, foliate and epigraphic; but they were given a new look. Thus a new style of writing, thuluth, came into fashion with its two- or three-tiered ligatures and harmoniously proportioned vertical letters.

DEPICTION OF BUILDINGS

The form and layout of buildings underwent certain changes, their typology becoming more elaborate. Most of the buildings which have survived from this period, as from earlier times, are connected with the Muslim religion or else are memorial structures. Our knowledge of secular architecture is obtained from miniatures in books which often depict dwelling-houses, palaces, monasteries and bathhouses. The dwellings depicted in miniatures usually have two storeys; the entrance has an arched aiwn or simply a decoratively carved door; there are windows on both floors, covered by panjaras (shaped grilles); on the second floor there is a loggia or hanging balcony; the roof is flat and is used in summer as an upper terrace. In many instances, the house is fronted by a light, columned portico. The interior (in miniatures it is usually the reception room, or mihmn-khna, which is shown) is decorated with tile panels and wall paintings.

Many bathhouses were also built: ruins going back to the fifteenth century are to be found in Samarkand, Balkh, Shahr-i Sabz and Tashkent. All of these buildings had a central hall, domed adjoining rooms for hot and cold water and other rooms for massage and relaxation. There was, however, no standard plan: it varied from one district to another and according to the resources invested. The performance of dally ablutions was not the only function of the bathhouse which, as everywhere in the Orient, was also a meeting place and a place of rest. As can be seen from the miniatures, the central chamber of the bathhouse was often adorned by painting. A luxurious bathhouse of this type was erected in Samarkand by Ulugh Beg, who enjoyed spending time there in the company of his friends.

Among the engineering structures of the fifteenth century mention should be made of the sardbs (water reservoirs) and yakhtangs (ice-houses), still preserved at Merv, Anau and on old trading routes, and also the bridges (on the Hari Rud and the Balkh-ab). A unique work of civil architecture was the observatory of Ulugh Beg in Samarkand. This was the architectural embodiment of a gigantic astronomical instrument: a circular, three-floored, multi-arched building cleft by the enormous curve of the sextant.

MOSQUES

In the area of monumental architecture, as at earlier periods, a special position was accorded to religious structures, some masterpieces being preserved to the present day. Timur and, later, the wife of Shh Rukh, Gawhar Shd, focused their attention on the construction or radical reconstruction of the Friday mosques in the large towns. In the year 1399, on returning from his Indian campaign, Timur undertook the construction in Samarkand of a new Friday mosque, for which purpose he earmarked his rich booty (including elephants, which transported the building materials). Impressed by the magnificent mosque which he had seen in Delhi, he decreed that the mosque in Samarkand should be even grander and more sumptuously decorated. In 1416-18 Gawhar Shd built the spacious Friday mosque in Mashhad beside the local shrine of Imm al-Rid.

In 1433–4 the energetic royal builder undertook the construction of the musall (open space for worship) of the mosque in Herat. At roughly the same time, Amir Jall al-Din Firz Shh completely reconstructed the Friday mosque in Herat which had fallen into decay. The building was badly damaged in an earthquake towards the end of that century but was restored in 1498–1500 on the initiative of and at the expense of ^cAlishir Naw^c. All these mosques were built on a grand scale and are remarkable for their size, the harmony of their form and the magnificence of their decoration. They are similar in design: a courtyard surrounded by arched and domed arcades on brick columns or (as in Samarkand) marble columns, a ceremonial entrance portal, vaulted aiwns on the axes of the courtyard, a maqsra located by a monumental dome and graceful, two- or three-stage minarets. None is a copy, however. Each mosque is different, each majestic and beautiful in its own way.

Friday mosques of more modest proportions were also constructed or rebuilt on old foundations in other towns (Merv and Ziyaratgah). The Friday mosque in Bukhara was also enlarged. Each quarter had its own mosque but most were built of perishable materials and have either completely disappeared or else been transformed over the centuries. The Baghbanli mosque in Khiva, for example, was reconstructed in the nineteenth century but it still has its fifteenth-century carved columns. The mosque of Hawz-i Qarboz in Herat (1441) is worthy of note: a small, delicate, triple-domed building with a columned, summer aiwn, it has an inscription bearing the name of Shh Rukh.

Commemorative mosques built beside the graves of persons who had been held in high regard continued, as in earlier times, to play an important role. Some had a vaulted portal which seemed to shade the grave in front; others were separate structures with an adjoining mausoleum, an arrangement which allowed for variations in the overall plan and in the disposition of volume. Among the most outstanding examples dating from the fifteenth century are the mosque in Tayabad, and the mosques by the tombs of Shaykh Jaml al-Din at Anau and the tomb of Ab Nasr Pars at Balkh.

MADRASAS

The construction of madrasas proceeded apace throughout the fifteenth century. Starting in the year 1417, Ulugh Beg founded three madrasas, at Bukhara, Samarkand and Gijduvan. The one at Samarkand (Fig. 7) was not only a centre for the training of theologians, imams and religious lawyers, but also performed the function of a university, in which lectures were delivered on mathematics, astronomy and philosophy. Between 1417 and 1439 three small madrasas – Parizad, Balasar and Dudar – were erected beside the shrine of Imam al-Rid in Mashhad. The madrasa of Gawhar Shd, which contains the tombs of Herati Timurids, was built in the city of Herat; and the madrasa of Sultan Husayn Ni^cmatbd was erected close by towards the end of the century. In 1444 a small mosque of perfect architectural form was also erected in the town of Khargird in Khurasan.

The design of the madrasa reached its zenith in the fifteenth century. The dihliz (entrance portal and vestibule) led to the courtyard; this was surrounded by, and separated by an arcade from, the hujras, usually on two floors. There were either two or four vaulted aiwns on the axis of the courtyard, spacious dars-khnas at its corners, and a mosque. The principal faade was imposing with its raised portal and, at the corners, with turrets or graceful minarets, which had no practical function and whose sole purpose was aesthetic. A variety of decoration was employed on the outer and inner faades and, in the most important madrasas, also in the dars-khnas.

KHANAQAHS

The Sufi orders played an important role in the intellectual life of the Timurid period, which explains the construction of khnaqhs (dervish convents), whose spacious, domed central hall was used for meetings and religlous ceremonies and which had smaller hujras at the corners. The khnaqh of Ulugh Beg on the Registan, which has not survived, was of monumental proportions; according to Bbur, its dome was one of the tallest in the world. Among those fifteenth-century monuments which have survived are the khnah near the mausoleum of Hakim al-Tirmidhi at Termez, the Zarnigr-khna at Gazurgah and the khnaqhs at Arinan and Ziyaratgah in Herat province.

ARCHITECTURAL ENSEMBLES

The types of buildings representative of late-fourteenth- and fifteenth-century monumental architecture which have been described above never stood in isolation but almost always formed part of large ensembles. Architectural ensembles are one of the outstanding achievements of urban development during this period. Sometimes a plan was devised which incorporated pre-existing structures, but often the different components were virtually contemporary. The ensemble around the central square, or Registan, in Samarkand, for example, was erected on the instructions of Ulugh Beg. The old Friday mosque already stood on the site and a covered bazaar, the Tim Tmn Aqa, which did not fit in with the architect’s plans, was demolished and a similar structure built at another location. Starting in 1417, monumental buildings were erected around the existing outline of the square: the madrasa of Ulugh Beg and the khnaqh opposite it; on the north side, the Mirz’i caravanserai; and, on the south side, the Friday mosque, completely restored by the dignitary Alike Kkaltash, and the small Muqatta (‘carved’) mosque, in which the columns, ceilings and other features are covered with delicate carving. Nearby lay a hawz. The harmonious combination of these varied buildings provided a magnificent setting for the square, which was used for military parades, government ceremonies and popular festivities.

A different type of group was erected in Herat in the fifteenth century. It included the madrasa and musall of Gawhar Shd and the madrasa of Sultn Husayn Bayqara, which seem to follow on from each other along the main thoroughfare leading to the Malik Gate. Graceful two- and three-stage minarets, portals on external walls and around courtyards, domes, wall surfaces treated in a variety of fashions, all faced with polychrome tiles, created the impression of a magnificent, unique single entity. Another, more compact ensemble developed beside the tomb of Imam ^cAli al-Rid in Mashhad, where there is a vast mosque, together with three madrasas, dependencies and an outer courtyard.

Contemporaries have left enthusiastic accounts of the Ikhlasiyya ensemble, which was founded in 1476–7 by ^cAlishir Naw’ on the outskirts of Herat but which has disappeared with the passage of time. In an enclosed area outside the city there stood a group of fine buildings serving a philanthropic purpose: the Qudsiyya mosque and the House of the Qur’an-reciters, the Dr al-Huffz (later transformed into a mausoleum), the Ikhlasiyya madrasa, the Khulasiyya khnaqh and the Gumbaz for Friday prayers, the Safa’iyya bathhouse and the Dr al-Shif’ (House of Healing), as well as the Unsiyya group of residences and dependencies. These structures were located on both sides of the Injil canal in the verdant setting of a well-planned park.

A picturesque type of funerary complex developed in the vicinity of the tombs of revered Muslims. The Shah-i Zinda, in Samarkand, for example, began to form around the supposed grave of Qutham b. ^cAbbs in the pre-Mongol period but most of the building work was carried out between the 1370s and the middle of the fifteenth century (Fig. 8). A path, divided into three by two domed chr-tqs, runs down the slope on which stands the old defensive wall of the early medieval shahristn (the site of Afrasiab). Alongside the path, closely spaced, are the mausoleums of female members of the house of the Timurids and those of various dignitaries. Nearly all of them are one-room portal-and-cupola structures; only two, the ‘sultans’ mothers’ and the mausoleum erected by Tmn Aqa, have two rooms. Each is different in form and in its profuse ornamentation (Fig. 9). The skill of the architects and the craftsmen responsible for its architectural decoration, especially that of the portals and the interiors, is amply demonstrated in the Shah-i Zinda. From whatever angle it is viewed, the ensemble offers new combinations of outline and perspective. A striking memorial ensemble of a different type is situated in the Khwja Ahrr cemetery in Samarkand. It consists of a commemorative mosque, a madrasa and a nearby hawz; the cemetery where the influential shaykh is buried lies not far off. The fifteenth-century Shaykh al-Thawri and Zengi-Ata ensembles in Tashkent also have an open layout.