Samanid Mausoleum, Chashma-Ayub Mausoleum

Practise day 7/ 31.05.2022

Samanid Mausoleum

The Samanid Mausoleum is a mausoleum located in the northwestern part of Bukhara, Uzbekistan, just outside its historic center. It was built in the 10th century CE as the resting place of the powerful and influential Islamic Samanid dynasty that ruled the Samanid Empire from approximately 900 to 1000. It contained three burials, one of whom is known to have been that of Nasr II.

                                                              (#way to Samanid Mausoleum)

The mausoleum is considered one of the iconic examples of early Islamic architecture and is known as the oldest funerary building of Central Asian architecture. The Samanids established their de facto independence from the Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad and ruled over parts of modern Afghanistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan. It is the only surviving monument from the Samanid era, but American art historian Arthur Upham Pope called it the "one of the finest in Persia".

Perfectly symmetrical, compact in its size, yet monumental in its structure, the mausoleum not only combined multi-cultural building and decorative traditions, such as Sogdian, Sassanian, Persian and even classical and Byzantine architecture, but incorporated features customary for Islamic architecture – a circular dome and mini domes, pointed arches, elaborate portals, columns and intricate geometric designs in the brickwork. At each corner, the mausoleum's builders employed squinches, an architectural solution to the problem of supporting the circular-plan dome on a square. The building was buried in silt some centuries after its construction and was revealed during the 20th century by archaeological excavation conducted under the USSR.

History

During the 10th century, Samanids' capital, Bukhara, was a major political, trade and cultural center that patronized science, architecture, medicine, arts and literature. Cultural and economic prosperity was fueled by Samanids' strategic positioning along the trade routes between Asia, Middle East, Russia and Europe. It is believed that the Mausoleum was built to emphasize the dynastic power of the Samani family and to link its history with their newly established capital.

There are various estimates by the researchers of when the Mausoleum was built. Some attribute it to the reign of Ismail Samani (r. 892–907 CE), a founder of the dynasty (b. 849),some reference Ismail's father, Ahmad, who governed Samarkand. Others attribute the building to the reign of Ismail's grandson, Nasr II who ruled (r. 914–943 CE). The reason for this later attribution is the lintel with inscribed Kufic script with his name found on the eastern side of the building during the restoration works in 1930s.

In 1930s, Soviet researchers discovered a copy of a 10th-century waqf document (copied around 1568) that specified that Ismail Samani donated Bukhara's cemetery Naukanda land for what appears to read as a funerary building for his father, Ahmad, confirming earlier assumptions of a dynastic nature of the monument. Before the time of Genghis Khan's siege and sack of Bukhara in 1220, the mausoleum is believed to have been buried in mud and sand from flooding and landslides, remaining so for centuries.Thus, when the Mongol armies reached Bukhara, the tomb was spared from their destruction, unlike most other buildings of that era. For the same reasons, the building was not known to the world until the early 20th century when archaeologists rediscovered it.

Major exploratory research and excavations took place during 1926–1928 by a Soviet team of architects and researchers.  During 1937–1939, the Mausoleum was further studied and major restorations works took place under the leadership of B. N. Zasipkin. Graves of three male bodies have been discovered. One of these is identified as Nasr II from the inscription on the lintel; the identity of the other two is not known. During the Soviet era, some time after World War II, the cemetery that surrounded the Mausoleum was paved over, and an amusement park (still in operation) was built next to and around the building.

The monument marks a new era in the development of Persian and Central Asian architecture, which was revived after the Arab conquest of the region. Many researches noted that the structure is made similar to the open, four-arched, often square in shape, Zoroastrian fire temples from Sassanian Iran, commonly known as chahar taq in Persian - a reference to Samanids claim of Sassanian descent. The building's shape is cuboid, like the Kaaba structure of the Great Mosque of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, while heavy fortress-like corner buttresses are derived from Sogdian traditions of Central Asia. The synthetic style of the tomb is reflective of the 9th and 10th centuries - a time when the region still had large populations of Zoroastrians in their early stages of conversion to Islam. Elaborate baked brick decoration is unique in its level of detail and rhythmic patterns and combines multi-cultural decorative motifs (Sogdian, Sassanian, Persian, Arabic, Antique). However, the building architects went beyond simply appropriating existing traditions in building structure and decoration; they introduced new features symbolic for the monumental dynastic architecture. In its structure, Mausoleum's unknown architects used squinches, containing four interior arches and an octagonal structure, that allowed to redistribute the weight of the circular dome over a square base, an alternative to pendentives.

Overall, the building is constructed in a form of a small, slightly tapering cube, with each side approximately 31 feet (9.4 m) long. There are four identically designed facades which gently slope inwards with increasing height. Wall thickness of approximately 6 feet (1.8 m) at the base of the building assured structural solidity and survival through the ages. Each side has an entrance portal adorned with pointed arches. Many researches note well-studied, almost mathematical, proportions of the building and its harmonious hierarchy. The base of the building is heavy which is accentuated by a wider foundation; four heavy built in three-quarter corner columns, classical in design, contribute to its fortress-like appearance. The top of the building is lightened up through an elegant arcade gallery, placed below the cornice, that have many arched openings to reduce overall weight and to let light inside the building (in contrast, most of chahar taq structures had no windows). A large semi-circular Dome, about 23 ft (7 meters) in diameter crowns the structure and it is similar to the Buddhist domes in the area. Four mini domes placed in the corners of the roof are more decorative in nature. Overall, the mausoleum's builders achieved an elegant hierarchy of diminishing proportions and vertical perspective through the diminishing size of the domes (one large and four small), columns (placed in the corners, portals and gallery) and arches (portals and gallery). Typical for Islamic architecture in general, there is an overlap and ambiguity between the structural and decorative features within the building – bricks being structure and décor, both equally important.

Builders used baked brick of various rectangular and square sizes for both structural and decorative elements of the building. Large bricks formed large bands throughout the building for structural stability, smaller bricks were used for decoration, usually in blocks of two to five bricks. Baked brick was a known material in the region, yet such extensive and creative use is considered unprecedented. Local builders mostly used unbaked brick, stucco and wood as these materials were cheaper, but not as strong as baked brick. The Mausoleum uses a few stucco and wood elements but these are minimal in terms of their relative share in the construction process. A few bounding compounds were discovered during the excavations, alabaster being one of them.

It is interesting that due to Islamic restrictions on use of imagery, Samanid Mausoleum decoration in mostly geometric in its layout and patterns, in comparison with the pre-Islamic Central Asian building traditions that blended architecture, sculpture and painting.[9] Researchers found common elements between the Samanid Mausoleum décor and design patterns executed in wood from the 8th century Penjikent.Repeated patterns create calculated harmony and a sense of infinity, important for a funerary structure. Patterns of great variety, executed in baked brick include basketweave,[10] checkerboard, "dog tooth"[10] ornament (on spandrels and the main dome), borders of rosettes, floral ornaments, ribbons, and bands of pearls. There is a notable consistency between the exterior and interior decor in terms of patterns, materials and approach and this signifies that the construction was most likely performed by the same person or team. Repeat pattern of decor and general symmetry were helpful during the restoration works in 1930s as archaeologists used surviving elements to restore those that had been lost. Careful studies of the type of materials, mortar, patterns, thickness and forms of historic layers were conducted before the restoration works began.[9] Prior to renovations, most of the damage was located at the gallery level. Some time during the 20th century, metal screens were installed within the portals to restrict access to the building. It is not known if the original portals had any screens installed.

The fact that the religious law of orthodox Sunni Islam strictly prohibits the construction of mausoleums over burial places stresses the significance of the Samanid mausoleum, which is the oldest surviving monument of Islamic architecture in Central Asia and the sole monument that survived from the era of the Samanid dynasty. The Samanid Mausoleum might be one of the earliest departures from that religious restriction in the history of Islamic architecture.

The building is regarded as one of the oldest monuments in the Bukhara region. Samanid Mausoleum appears in virtually every survey on the Islamic architecture and is significant as an example of early Islamic architecture in the Central Asia and worldwide. Its unknown creators harmoniously combined references to the prior regional traditions and deployed innovative structural elements, such as squinches, as well as new for the time features that are considered customary for the Islamic architecture worldwide. Samanid Mausoleum is sometimes referred to as a "Jewel Box" due to its compact size and elegant, mathematically calculated proportions and rhythmic patterns of its intricate, unprecedented baked brick decoration.

The mausoleum of Pakistan's founding father, Muhammad Ali Jinnah--Mazar-e-Quaid in Karachi is modeled after the Samanid Mausoleum.Popularly known as the Tomb of the Samanid, this early mausoleum was erected by the Samanid ruler sometime before 943/332 AH. An existing waqf document indicates that it was possibly built for his father. Although three bodies lie within, a wooden plaque identifies only Ismail's grandson, Nasr ibn Ahmad ibn Ismail or as-Said Nasr II (d. 943). Ostensibly the family crypt of the first local Muslim dynasty, it is possible that, consistent with popular nomenclature, the structure does indeed contain the grave of Ismail himself.

The baked brick structure describes a simple form: a slightly tapered cube capped by a hemispherical dome that is inset from the exterior face of the cube. The exterior surface decoration of highly articulated brickwork provides visual interest. Departing from customary stucco decoration, the use of allover decorative brickwork represents an important innovation. Each façade is identical, joining the next with semi-attached circular columns. Centered within each façade is an arched opening framed by bricks laid in basket weave, the spandrels composed of diagonally set end brick. A frieze of small arches on columns encircles the top of the cube forming a miniature arcade, the corners are punctuated with small domical forms that sit above the cube.The exterior arcade frieze repeats on the interior as an internal gallery. Utilizing corner arches to facilitate the interior transition from the square plan to the dome constitutes another important innovation.

Chashma-Ayub Mausoleum

Chashma-Ayub Mausoleum is located near the Samani Mausoleum, in Bukhara, Uzbekistan. Its name means Job's well, due to the legend in which Job (Ayub) visited this place and made a well by striking the ground with his staff. The water of this well is still pure and is considered healing. The current building was constructed during the reign of Timur and features a Khwarazm-style conical dome uncommon in Bukhara.Chashma-Ayub Mausoleum is in the middle of a small, ancient cemetery. The construction suffered some losses, but the preserved parts represent a combination of a harmonious entrance portal, and adjoining it are the remains of the western curtain wall.

The construction layout of the portal is in a traditional pattern, made up in the form of two pylons, forming the niche overlapped by the semi vault. The II-shaped frame, the inside of which forms the obverse surface, tympanum, and ktoba, is finished with an inscription above the lancet arch. The northern part of the niche portal is a limited gable wall with a doorway. From the western end the portal is adjoined by a deep brick wall that measures 5.9 m, of which the western portion has been lost. The wall is in the form of a trapezoid with a large base. The central room is overlapped by the tent-peaked dome. Except for the proportions of the construction, this monument has well-considered and perfectly executed decoration, the basic part of which is concentrated on the portal. The most effective place in the general composition of the decoration is ktoba, filled with Arabic inscriptions on a background of botanical ornamentation. The portal frame on the external contour is marked by the II-shaped zone, strengthened by girikh from intertwining octahedrons, made of terracotta bricks. Glazed inserts in turquoise fill the central octahedral sockets. A tape borders the frame and ktoba. The historical value of the monument consists of the exact dating written on ktoba (1208-1209 .A.D.) or the 605th year of the Muslim Calendar.[CHASHMAH-AYYUB MAUSOLEUM

 

Chashmah-Ayyub Mausoleum (also spelled Chashma-Ayub) is a cult historic building with a sacred spring in the center of Bukhara. It was named after the saint Ayyub, known as Job in the Bible. According to legend, the people who lived where Bukhara grew afterwards were dying of thirst, for water had left the area. When they saw Job wandering there, they asked him to help. Job hit the ground with his staff, thus opening a spring with clean and healing water. The local people still believe the spring water is healing.

The mausoleum was built right over the spring, not far from Ismail Samani Mausoleum and the ruins of the ancient city wall. The structure is crowned with domes of various sizes. The central double-dome over the main chamber features a tent-like top, which is uncharacteristic of Bukhara. The smaller chambers under the rest of the domes are dim and charmingly mysterious.

The mausoleum was built in the 12th сentury during the reign of the Karakhanids (also spelled Qarakhanids). Two centuries later Tamerlane brought master craftsmen from Khorezm and ordered them to extend the building. That was why the mausoleum has characteristic Khorezmian architectural features. During the 14th - 19th с the building was reconstructed several times.There are a few graves in the mausoleum. The earliest of them is of the famous expert in hadith, theologian and author of historical treatises Hajji Hafiz Gunjori. He was buried there in 1022.

Today the mausoleum houses Water Museum and Carpet Exhibition. The museum exhibits deal with the history of Bukhara region irrigation and water supply. Among them stand out the ceramic water pipes dating back to the 18th - 19th centuries, copper water containers with chased designs and leather water bags dating back to the 19th - 20th centuries. Once you get to the mausoleum, you must try the clean crystal water of the spring. Saint Ayyub will never forget you and give you better health then!This monument refers to 1380 and devoted legendary prophet Ayub. It is a religious building includes a mausoleum and a sacred spring. Currently, it houses the Museum of the holy water.

This unique sightseeing of Bukhara enclosed in a rectangle walls, over which looms a dome with different silhouettes. The interiors are spectacular ganch lampshades with growing rows of stalactites, creating a transition of stalactite domes.It is located on the way out of the Ismail Samani park. It was repeatedly rebuilt during the fourteenth and took the form of an elongated prism topped domes over the premises of various sizes and shapes. Sharp, memorable silhouette gives it raised on a cylindrical drum with a conical double dome marking a main room with a well - source.

The monument is a rectangular building complex consisting of 4 rooms, a suite arranged from west to east. Premises built at different times. The oldest of them is blocked high conical dome. The construction of this part, according to legend, is credited with Arslan Khan, in which was erected the Kalyan Minaret.Inside mazar still remained a source of cold water. Folk legend connects the building with the name of the biblical holy Job. The legend tells that in those days, when there was the city of Bukhara, Prophet Job came to these places. The year was dry, and the inhabitants died of thirst. They appealed to the «saint» for help. Job struck his staff on the ground, and out of the scoring key appeared cold water. Hence the name of the monument is Chashma - Ayub, which means "the source of Job."

In reality, the source appears to be healing, and they existed long enjoyed the local population. He called «weak source», as the word "Ayub" can be interpreted as a derivative of the word «mayub» which means to Tajik - weak. This kind of facts is known from the history of the ancient world (Greece, Rome). The monument stands in deep beams with recent large spring flowed. This spring is associated with a well mazar.Mausoleum of Chashma-Ayub is the religious building in the heart of Bukhara. It consists of the mausoleum and a holy spring. Today it includes a Museum of Water. The mausoleum was built by the order of Karakhanid rulers in the 12th century. It was rebuilt several times during the 14th-19th centuries. During the Tamerlane’s reign the mausoleum was completed. The building features four rooms, situated on the East-West axis. Each room is topped with a dome. The western room was the first building and was built as a sepulchral tower; the rest rooms were built later.

This mausoleum is related with a legend of the Prophet Job. Once Bukhara suffered from desert winds and residents suffered from a drought. People prayed Allah for a miracle. And the God heeded their requests. At that time the Prophet Job had a trip through Bukhara lands. He struck the ground with his staff and healing water sprang up. The spring saved Bukhara people and they called it Chashma-Ayub, the spring of Holy Ayub.

In the begining of 20th c bath - houses were one of the honorable places in Bukhara . There were 20 bath - houses in Bukhara . Most of those bath - houses were built in the 16th 17th centuries , and have preserved their shape for cen turies . Bath - houses of Bukhara were popular among the local people , foreign merchants and guests . They were built on the ground , but in the course of time half of their structures were covered by the ground . Bath - houses were fed by water from the wells . These buildings had the same shape and the only differ ence between them was the number rooms . The first was the cloak room , after which along short narrow path the next room ( poyshuykhona ) the room for washing legs and feet . Then the next central room ( miyonsaroy ) , through which one might go to a hot - water room ( garmkhona ) , cold - water room ( khunukkhona ) and to a special room ( vadjibikhona ) . Vadjibikhona was for massage and shaving .

Chashma Ayub Bukhara is one of the oldest cities in the world , has long been considered one of the biggest political - administrative , scientific , cultural and religious centers of Central Asia . Historical monuments , which are masterpieces of ar chitecture for centuries attracted tourists and pilgrims from around the world . One of the most important places of pilgrimage in Bukhara is the mausoleum of Chashmai Ayub . In history there were left number of details about this mausoleum and the person buried here . This information is sometimes adequate , sometimes ignored , often complement each other . According to legends and stories , rich and trustworthy Ayyub was from Hevron . To test him Allah sends Shaitan . Satan sends him misery , pain and suffering and also disease , making Ayyub's body and the skin unrecognizable . Despite all the hardship , Ayyub does not lose his faith hoping for the mercy of Allah , contin ues praying . After much prayer and appeals Allah sends him archangel Gabri el , ordering Ayyub to set foot on the ground . From that very spot flows spring water which cures corporal ulcers . There is no exact information about the lo cation of the spring mentioned above . In Syria , Palestine , Egypt , Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan , there are places which are associated with the name of the spring . If we look at the history of the construction of the mausoleum , we can confidently say that the three parts of the building , constructed in three eras . The first part of the mausoleum gurkhana - burial built in the XII century during the rule of Arslankhan the representative of the house of Karakhanids . Prior to this there was an unattractive mausoleum and over the well was built a porch . By order of Arslankhan over the grave was built a beautiful and majes tic mausoleum and over the well was built a porch . Based on the inscriptions , which hangs on the top of the entrance of entombment , the second part of the mausoleum was built in the time of Amir Temur : " This building was built during the reign of Sultan of Movarounnahr and Khurasan Amir Temur " The third part of the mausoleum was built in the XVI century during the Sheibanids reign .

THE CAREFUL , RATIONAL RELATION TO WATER , ECONOMY OF EACH DROP , LIQUIDATION OF USELESS LEAK OF WATER IN THE SCALE OF UZBEKISTAN ALLOWS TO IMPROVE WATER SUPPLY FOR POPULATION , AND TO PROVIDE ALL BRANCHES OF THE NATIONAL ECONOMY OF THE REPUBLIC WITH THE NECESSARY QUANTITY OF WATER FOR PRODUCTION OF FOOD ARTICLES OF WIDE CONSUMPTION .

Sardoba - water - reservoirs that were deeply buried into the ground ( usually built on caravan trading roads , known from the 10th century ) . Water in those cisterns remained cold even in the hottest periods of the year . Irrespective of their size , sardobas are usually cylinder shape with the diameter of 15 meters and 10-15 meters deep . Sardobas were filled with rain and water from melted snow , some times with water from nearby channels and streams . They were often constructed along the way to underground channels - karizs . There is usually one opening in most of the sardobas , while Bukharan ones had two . The main building material for sardobas in Uzbekistan was fired flat square shaped of high quality of burning and solidity .