Arab Ata Mausoleum

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The Arab Ata Mausoleum or Arabota Mausoleum ( Uzbek Аработа мақбараси Arabota maqbarasi ) is a mausoleum in Uzbekistan. The building is located in the town of Tim in the Uzbek province of Samarkand about 100 kilometers west of the provincial capital of Samarkand . It was built in the 10th century and was included in the list of proposals for UNESCO World Heritage by the Republic of Uzbekistan in 2008 due to its architectural and historical importance .

Building history

The mausoleum was built under the Samanid ruler Nūḥ ibn Manṣūr in the years 977/78. It was built around 70 years later as the Samanid mausoleum in Bukhara , which is the most famous building from the Samanid era and has a comparable style. The architectural-historical significance of the Arab-Ata mausoleum becomes particularly clear when compared to this earlier building, with the development of the Pishtak , a monumental portal arch, and the stalactite vault as the transition from the rectangular base of the building to the round dome, significant stages in the development of Islamic architecture Represent Central Asia. The exact function of the building is no longer known today, according to a local tradition, the mausoleum was built as a burial place for an Arab conqueror, whose identity is unclear today.

description

The Arab Ata Mausoleum is a free-standing building at the foot of a hill. The external dimensions of the building are 8.0 × 8.7 m, the interior is square with a side length of five meters, which is a parallel to the Samanid mausoleum in Bukhara, which has a square building plan. The monumental entrance to the mausoleum is marked by a pishtak and a flat iwan , another feature of Islamic architecture in the region. Above the ivan there are three rectangular, stepped blind niches . In the corners of the structure there are polygonal columns, which are decorated with ornaments through offset bricks in the masonry bond. A stalactite vault, known as muqarnas in Islamic architecture, forms the transition to the building's flat dome . The Arab-Ata mausoleum is one of the oldest surviving buildings in which this technique, which developed into a stylistic feature of Islamic architecture, was used.

meaning

The mausoleum received little attention for a long time because of its remote location in the steppe between the architecturally and culturally important cities of Bukhara and Samarqand. It was not until the 20th century that the building was rediscovered as a mausoleum and was the subject of first scientific studies. Today the building is considered to be evidence of an important stage in the development of Islamic architecture in the region. On January 18, 2008, the National Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan put the building on the tentative list of Uzbekistan for UNESCO.

Web links

  • Arab-Ata-Mausoleum on the website of the UNESCO World Heritage Center for tentative lists.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Klaus Pander: Art travel guide Central Asia . 9th edition. Dumont, Ostfildern 2013, ISBN 978-3-7701-3680-3 , pp. 253 .
  2. ↑ Arab Ata Mausoleum. In: Fine Arts Library Image Collection. Retrieved August 17, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Irina and Bodo Thöns: Uzbekistan Travel Guide Along the Silk Road to Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva . 13th updated edition, revised edition. Trescher Verlag, Berlin, ISBN 978-3-89794-453-4 , pp. 262 .
  4. ^ Mazar-i 'Arab' Ata. Retrieved August 17, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Arab-Ata mausoleum. In: Silk Road Explore. Retrieved August 17, 2020 (American English).
  6. ↑ Arab-Ata mausoleum. In: whc.unesco.org. UNESCO World Heritage Center, accessed August 17, 2020 .

Coordinates: 39 ° 41 ′ 43.4 "  N , 65 ° 47 ′ 34.8"  E