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The Shrine of Khwaja Abd Allah, commonly called the Shrine at Gazur Gah (or just Gazur Gah) and the Abdullah Ansari Shrine Complex, is the funerary compound of the Sufi saint
Khwaja Abdullah Ansari Abu Ismaïl Abdullah al-Harawi al-Ansari or Abdullah Ansari of Herat (1006–1088) ( fa, خواجه عبدالله انصاری) also known as ''Pir-i Herat'' () "Sage of Herat", was a Muslim Sufi saint who lived in the 11th century in Herat (m ...
. It is located at the village of Gazur Gah, three kilometers northeast of
Herat, Afghanistan Herāt (; Persian: ) is an oasis city and the third-largest city of Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Selseleh-ye Safēd ...
. The Historic Cities Programme of the
Aga Khan Trust for Culture The Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) is an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), a family of institutions created by Aga Khan IV with distinct but complementary mandates to improve the welfare and prospects of people in the developin ...
has initiated repairs on the complex since 2005. The shrine was erected by architect Qavam al-Din of Shiraz in 1425, in Herat, Afghanistan. Patron of this monument is Shah Rukh, ruler of the
Timurid dynasty The Timurid dynasty ( chg, , fa, ), self-designated as Gurkani ( chg, , translit=Küregen, fa, , translit=Gūrkāniyān), was a Sunni Muslim dynasty or clan of Turco-Mongol originB.F. Manz, ''"Tīmūr Lang"'', in Encyclopaedia of Islam, Onl ...
. He commissioned the site as a memorial
mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be cons ...
for patron-saint Khwaja Abdullah Ansari. Abdullah Ansari was both a
Sufi Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, r ...
mystic and patron saint of Herat. The Timurids reigned after the collapse of the
Mongol empire The Mongol Empire of the 13th and 14th centuries was the largest contiguous land empire in history. Originating in present-day Mongolia in East Asia, the Mongol Empire at its height stretched from the Sea of Japan to parts of Eastern Europe, ...
in 1335. The Mongols were a central Asian ethnographic group, thus the Timurids artistic styles were influenced by their Asiatic traditions. The mausoleum was built for Abd Allah Ansari resting place and the public wished to be buried beside him because they venerated the patron saint. However, commoners were not meant to be buried here and were only meant for those who held elite status within the Islamic society. The graveyard was one of the richest in the east of Herat, and the tombs of a varied populace were embellished with stones of every color and every size. The tombs were designed for princes,
dervish Dervish, Darvesh, or Darwīsh (from fa, درویش, ''Darvīsh'') in Islam can refer broadly to members of a Sufi fraternity (''tariqah''), or more narrowly to a religious mendicant, who chose or accepted material poverty. The latter usage i ...
es, state officials, soldiers, poets, and others who held a high status in society. Trees surmount the tomb of Abdullah Ansari and north from it stands a tall marble column and headstone erected in his honor. The architect Qavam al-Din Shirazi had traveled from his hometown of
Shiraz Shiraz (; fa, شیراز, Širâz ) is the fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars Province, which has been historically known as Pars () and Persis. As of the 2016 national census, the population of the city was 1,565,572 p ...
to the northern parts of Iran. Some of his work during this period includes the ''
madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...
'' for
Shah Rukh Shah Rukh or Shahrukh ( fa, شاهرخ, ''Šāhrokh'') (20 August 1377 – 13 March 1447) was the ruler of the Timurid Empire between 1405 and 1447. He was the son of the Central Asian conqueror Timur (Tamerlane), who founded the Timurid dynas ...
at Herat, the congregational mosque for
Gawhar Shad Gawhar Shad ( fa, , Gawaršād; meaning "joyful jewel" or "shining jewel"; alternative spelling: Gohar Shād; died 19 July 1457) was the chief consort of Shah Rukh, the emperor of the Timurid Empire. Life She was the daughter of Giāth ud-Din ...
at
Mashhad Mashhad ( fa, مشهد, Mašhad ), also spelled Mashad, is the second-most-populous city in Iran, located in the relatively remote north-east of the country about from Tehran. It serves as the capital of Razavi Khorasan Province and has a po ...
, and the ''madrasa'' Ghiyathiyah at Khargird. By the time he was commissioned by Shah Rukh to build the shrine, he had developed his own architectural style that integrated Iranian, Turanian, and his own personal stylistic elements.


Description

Much of the focus of the complex is given to the east ''
iwan An iwan ( fa, ایوان , ar, إيوان , also spelled ivan) is a rectangular hall or space, usually vaulted, walled on three sides, with one end entirely open. The formal gateway to the iwan is called , a Persian term for a portal projectin ...
'', a rectangular interior space with one un-walled side. The facade consists of three entrances from the large polygonal bay, covered in intricate mosaics. Despite the grandeur of the ornamentation, the ''iwan'' walls are rough. This is likely due to the rushed nature of construction, which only took around three years despite the fact that decoration itself is usually completed in the same length of time, suggesting that Qavam al-Din designed the ornamentation himself, which was then executed by a team of
mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...
ists.


The Shrine Proper

The west-facing entrance facade presents the primary entrance portal. The primary entrance portal is semi-domed and five sided. The center wall of the portal possesses a door that leads to a ''dihliz'', or threshold. The two walls immediately next to the doorway are niched. Three windows above the door and niches allow light into the second floor. The brickwork is glazed turquoise and black in a '' banai'' style and laid in a
chevron Chevron (often relating to V-shaped patterns) may refer to: Science and technology * Chevron (aerospace), sawtooth patterns on some jet engines * Chevron (anatomy), a bone * '' Eulithis testata'', a moth * Chevron (geology), a fold in rock la ...
pattern. Two inscriptions have been left on the facade: one by calligrapher Muhyi b. Muhammad b. Husayn dated 1014 A.D., and a lengthy '' vaqf-namah''. An outdoor facade extends down a north and a south facing facade which also possess entrance portals, albeit, smaller and less impressive. The north facing facade leads to a
masjid A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, i ...
, and the south facing facade leads to the '' Jamaat Khana''. The facade is lit by a window in each of four recesses on each side. A white marble ledge projects from the lower portion of the brickwork. The walls here are vibrantly colored. The banai brickwork style is employed again. The arches are decorated with bisque tiles, mosaic
faience Faience or faïence (; ) is the general English language term for fine tin-glazed pottery. The invention of a white pottery glaze suitable for painted decoration, by the addition of an oxide of tin to the slip of a lead glaze, was a major ...
. The dado is formed of marble mosaic. The ''dihliz'' appears octagonal due to the painted dado which hides the bottom of the arches. Paintings of trees reach from the dado to the ceiling. Each wall has a door: the north to the ''masjid'', the south to the ''Jamaat Khana'', and the east west to the courtyard. The east facing doorway is pointed and the other three are segmented, but  they all appear rectangular due to tympanums. The north, south, and west tympanums are painted according to a calligraphic and floral scheme. Scenes of Madinah, Mecca, and, puzzlingly, palaces, kiosks and trays of food are painted above the arches. The masjid, or mosque, is divided into five sections by arches. Six alcoves, on either side of the middle three sections, open up to the entrance facade on the west and the courtyard on the east. The north and south sections are in the form of bays, and allow five means of entry between them. A staircase in the south bay leads to an
ambulatory The ambulatory ( la, ambulatorium, ‘walking place’) is the covered passage around a cloister or the processional way around the east end of a cathedral or large church and behind the high altar. The first ambulatory was in France in the 11th ...
. Plaster
muqarnas Muqarnas ( ar, مقرنص; fa, مقرنس), also known in Iranian architecture as Ahoopāy ( fa, آهوپای) and in Iberian architecture as Mocárabe, is a form of ornamented vaulting in Islamic architecture. It is the archetypal form of I ...
cover the ceiling and alcoves. The dado is composed of buff hexagonal tiles and blue and black mosaic faience, broken up by narrow borders of four pointed stars. The
mihrab Mihrab ( ar, محراب, ', pl. ') is a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the ''qibla'', the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca towards which Muslims should face when praying. The wall in which a ''mihrab'' appears is thus the "qibla ...
is a simple inscribed marble slate. The ''Jamaat Khana'' is distinguished from the masjid in only a few ways: it lacks a mihrab and a tiled dado. The second story is composed of a room and the two galleries that lead to it from the staircase of either of the masjid or the ''Jamaat Khana''. Its windows face over the entrance facade and the courtyard. The courtyard is enclosed on the north and south by two long facades. The south facade has more damage than the rest of the building. Extensive restoration has made it difficult to predict what it would have looked like  when built. However, the southern ''iwan'' is similar to the north. It has been very well preserved despite the damage sustained by the rest of the south facade. Due to its bigger size, a relieving arch ink to discharging archwas built in to support the brickwork. Four rooms extend one by one to complete the facade. The north facade is similar to the south facade. However, five rooms have been added.


The Zarnigar-Khanah and the Namakdan

The Zarnigar Khanah is two hundred meters from the shrine. The entrance portal faces north and is covered by two semi-domes. A large dome span of about ten meters (9.70 m) covers the central hall. A niched mihrab is present on the west wall, and the other four walls have a door. A window over each door and the mihrab is framed by
squinch In architecture, a squinch is a triangular corner that supports the base of a dome. Its visual purpose is to translate a rectangle into an octagon. See also: pendentive. Construction A squinch is typically formed by a masonry arch that spans ...
arches. The pavilion, primarily known as the Namakdan, is
dodecagon In geometry, a dodecagon or 12-gon is any twelve-sided polygon. Regular dodecagon A regular dodecagon is a figure with sides of the same length and internal angles of the same size. It has twelve lines of reflective symmetry and rotational s ...
al on its outside and octagonal inside. Four eyvans open the outside of the structure toward four more small octagonal chambers, which further open to the central pavilion. Recently, the vault was split into a first and second story.


Architectural Themes

The inscriptions that wrap around the buildings vary in style and are accompanied by gold and lapis lazuli mosaics. Entering the shrine, natural light is minimal. In the center sits a sarcophagus. The sarcophagus itself is made of black marble, as opposed to the white marble used in the decoration of the buildings. This black marble was sourced north of Qandahar, while the white marble likely came from east of Herat. The decoration of the tombstone consists of interlaced vines, repeated geometric designs, and inscriptions. The tombstones and their decorative program are essentially Timurid. Muqarnas, also described as stalactite composition, are a decorative tool used to give the appearance of a circular architecture in a square room. The muqarnas found in the complex are characteristically conch-like, and dates to pre-Timurid times. The framing used to make the muqarnas here are unique: a semi-dome and two quarter domes. This conch-like maquarna can only be seen a handful of other monuments: the Mausoleum of Baysunghur, the Madrasah of Khargird, the Masjid-i Mawlana, and the Shah-i Zindah. The mosaic faience can be seen around the shrine on spandrels, inscriptions, and borders. Each spandrel in contains a teardrop
medallion A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be int ...
framed by a ring of petals. An amber
arabesque The arabesque is a form of artistic decoration consisting of "surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines, often combined with other elements. Another definition is "Foli ...
passes through the ring's center, superimposed on a second, turquoise arabesque. Small blowers bud from each arabesque element and terminates in a
palmette The palmette is a motif in decorative art which, in its most characteristic expression, resembles the fan-shaped leaves of a palm tree. It has a far-reaching history, originating in ancient Egypt with a subsequent development through the art ...
. This sequence is common across Timurid architecture and is known as the “tree of life”. The Banai technique uses the appearance of masonry to design complex patterns in a structure. The timurids used glazed and bisque tile to simulate brick in this case. The Shrine of Khwaja Abd Allah used studded brick ends. Glazed tile was pressed with dotted squares and contrasting color in the center. This style was rare, and can be seen in two other Khurasan monuments: the Madrasa of Khargird and the Shrine of Tayabad.


References

{{Authority control Shrines in Afghanistan