Sultan Sanjar Mausoleum
| Sultan Sanjar Mausoleum | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Data | ||
| place | Merw | |
| architect | Mukhammed Bini Atsyz As-Sarakhsi | |
| Construction year | 1157 | |
| demolition | Destroyed by Mongols in 1221 | |
| height | 38 m | |
| Coordinates | 37 ° 39 '36 " N , 62 ° 9' 36" E | |
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The Sultan Sanjar Mausoleum is a building that dates back to 1157 and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site Ruins of Ancient Merw .
description
The mausoleum has a square base with a side length of 27 meters. On the two-story substructure was a 17 meter high dome, which was covered with turquoise bricks. The dome, the outer shell of which has been destroyed over the centuries, is considered to be the first double-shell dome in Central Asia . The building rests on a six meter deep foundation, which made the building earthquake-proof. The massive walls are more than three meters thick. The building has two entrances, a main entrance in the east and another in the west, from where the gallery around the dome can be reached. In the middle of the dome was the eight-pointed Seljuk star and a small opening to the outside, which is the subject of a legend (see below). Inside the mausoleum there is a cenotaph that is reminiscent of Sultan Sanjar. His body was taken to an unknown location before the Mongol invasion .
history
Sultan Ahmad Sandschar was the last Sultan of the Seljuks from 1118 to 1157 , whose long and successful reign only ended in the fall of the Seljuq Empire through the defeat in the battle of the Katwansteppe. Originally the mausoleum was not isolated, but was part of a larger building complex with religious significance, which also included a mosque. In 1221, Merw was captured by the Mongols under Tolui Khan and the mausoleum was largely destroyed.
In 1937 excavations were carried out around the mausoleum. During excavations in 1996, the remains of a bazaar and a caravanserai were uncovered in the vicinity of the mausoleum. In 1994, extensive restoration work began on the mausoleum, which was made accessible again after ten years of work by Turkish and Turkmen experts.
Legend
The mausoleum is the subject of a legend: Sultan Sanjar fell in love with a girl who, under three conditions, was ready to become his wife. The sultan should not watch her comb her hair, never see her feet, and never hug her. When he couldn't control himself anymore and finally hugged his wife, he noticed that she had no bones. Dismayed by the breach of his promise, the woman left the Sultan and merely offered him to build a castle for her with a hole in the dome, which she would go to every Friday. The Sultan did this and saw his wife this way weekly until the Sultan died. Out of love, he had arranged to be buried in that castle so that it became his mausoleum.
Individual evidence
- ^ Mausoleum of Sultan Sanjar | Merv, Turkmenistan Merv. Retrieved August 12, 2019 .
- ↑ Selcuklu Municipality: Tomb of Sultan Sanjar. Retrieved August 12, 2019 .
- ↑ Ahmed Sanjar Mausoleum. Retrieved August 12, 2019 .
- ↑ Mausoleum of Sultan Sanjar in Merv. Retrieved August 12, 2019 .
- ↑ Merv Landmarks - Sultan Sandzhar Mausoleum. Retrieved August 12, 2019 .
- ^ Beate Luckow: Turkmenistan . Trescher Verlag, Berlin 2019.