Tuesday 13 March 2012

Taphophile Tragics

Shahr i Zindah, Samarkand, Uzbekistan

The Shah-i Zinda (lit. "the Living King") is a funerary complex, located on the south side of the Afrasiyab hill in the city of Samarqand. The focal point of the complex is the shrine of Qusam b. Abbas, a cousin of the Prophet Muhammad, who was reportedly beheaded on a site near Samarqand's wall during the seventh-century Arab conquests of Transoxania. The legend, which became popular in the Timurid period, relates that Qusam, carrying his head in hands and led by the prophet Khizr, descended into a well, where he resides eternally in an underground palace as a "Living King." Some scholars suggest that the site was a venerated place before the arrival of Islam, in part because of the reference to prophet Khizr and the story of the Source of Life, but also due to the existence of a spring, historically associated with immortality.


Archeological studies, however, indicate that the earliest structures of the Shah-i Zinda date from the eleventh century of the Common Era, when the shrine and its adjoining buildings were located at an intersection within a populated area of ancient Samarqand, (which is now a mound called Afrasiyab, to the north of the city.) Archeological excavations have also revealed traces of an eleventh-century four-iwan madrasa (probably the first instance of the institution in Samarkand) erected opposite the shrine by the order of the Karakhanid ruler Tamghach Bughra Khan (reg. 1052–1066).


Nevertheless, it was after the Mongol sack of the city in the early thirteenth century that, following the relocation of central Samarqand from Afrasiyab hill to its present place, the site turned into a necropolis. The tombs first erected clustered around the Qusam's shrine at the top of the hill, and the later structures descended the southern slope in a long string. The bulk of the structures were constructed between 1370 and 1405, mostly for the female members of the Timurid family.


The final form of the complex was shaped in 1434-5, when Ulugh Beg, Timur's grandson and the governor of Transoxiana (1409–1447), erected a monumental gateway at the southern end of the alley, which provided a well-defined ceremonial entrance for the complex and linked the necropolis to the city. Later interventions had minimal impacts on the general organization of the site.


For more taphophilia please visit Julie's Taphophile Tragics.

9 comments:

Jim said...

Amazing.

PerthDailyPhoto said...

Interesting info Ann. The mosaic work on the shrine is amazing.

Joan Elizabeth said...

Great tilework. A funerary complex ... interesting idea.

Gemma Wiseman said...

Awe inspiring artwork on these buildings! This complex is like an exotic metropolis for souls!

Stefan Jansson said...

Nice history lesson.

Julie said...

Is this more on the same place as last week, or am I getting confused.

that shot of the tiles (photo 4 ) boggles my poor brain. Imagine trying to afix them!

Interesting the things that jump out at one is such a dense text. Firstly, the area known as "Transoxania". I have never read this name before, yet it is such a great name! Secondly, the year 1066 jumped out. Totally recognsable in a Western timeline, and useful to put Uzbekistan into a context that I can understand.

I am so glad you are contributing this areas to Taphophile Tragics. And that we give you a place to exhibit the photos you have accumulated during your life of meandering.

Hope Adelaide is treating you well!

Ann said...

Julie, its the same city but a different place. The similarity is in the Islamic architecture of the domes and blue tiling. I have many more photos of these domed and highly decorated buildings (there is a square in Bokhara which contains a pool surrounded by the most beautiful domed and mosaiced (is that word?) buildings. Unfortunately as they are mosques and medressas (religious schools) they don't fit this meme. There is also the famous Registan in Samarkand, another huge complex of medressas.

Melbourne Australia Photos said...

Another fantastic post from another exotic location. Enjoyed it very much, Ann!

Gene said...

Remarkable structures and mosaics. And very informative -- a part of the world I know very little about.