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MUSALLA COMPLEX
The musalla complex, designed and built (1417) under Queen
Gawhar Shad’s artistic direction, has been described
as “the most beautiful example in colour in architecture
ever devised by man to the glory of his God and himself.”
(Byron). Only three examples remain. Most of the buildings
in this complex were purposely demolished under the direction
of British troops in 1885 when a Russian attack on Herat was
feared. The attack never materialized but these great works
of art were irretrievably lost.
Three of the nine minarets left standing in 1885 were subsequently
downed by earthquakes in 1931 and 1951. those which remain
totter precariously. One, the more simply decorated, stands
beside Gawhar Shad’s Mausoleum which is topped by a
flamboyant ribbed dome of Persian-blue, set above a high drum
encircled with a dazzling white Koranic inscription against
a royal-blue background. Tall panels bejewelled with floral
decorations add to the richness of the decoration. The interior
is equally rich with painted and architectural ornamentation:
a profusion of interlacing arches, fan-shaped squinches, stalactite
niches, small and large domes, are delicately adorned with
bands of calligraphy and all manner of floral motifs painted
in lapis lazuli, rust-red and gilt. The blue pigment used
in this painting was made from crushed lapis lazuli from Badakhshan.
In the center are the tombstones of the Queen, her son Baisunghur
and various grandsons and great-grandsons. Gawhar Shad was
murdered when she was well past the age, in 1457.
The minaret which stands to the east of the mausoleum was
one of a pair which stood on either side of the portal to
the Queen’s madrassa (religious school). The shaft is
of plain brick, set horizontally, dotted with rows of large
royal-blue diamonds embellished with mosaics of flowers and
Arabic script. Two balconies from which the call to prayer
was made ring the shaft, each heavily ornamented with deep
stalactite brackets.
A second minaret stands at the far end of the garden attached
to the northern façade of a modern madrassa. There
were originally four minarets like this one, standing at the
four corners of Queen Gawhar Shad’s musalla (place of
workship) which was the quintessence of Timurid architectural
decoration. The Seljuks (12th century) began to enliven the
exteriors of buildings by setting broad geometrical patterns
of colored brick into the plaster. The Ghorids perfected the
technique of cut brick and molded terracotta, and Timurid
innovations led constantly to an elaboration of design and
intensification of color. Queen Gawhar Shad’s musalla
in Herat was the most glorious fruition of this development…
Four tall minarets stand to the north of the Queen’s
mausoleum. They stood at the four corners of a madrassa built
by sultan Husain Baiqara (1468-1506), last of the Timurid
rulers in Herat. Here a lacy network of glistening white faience
seemingly tumbles over a shaft covered with light Persian-blue
lozenges of floral mosaic. The technique and effect is quite
different from Gawhar Shad’s buildings, mirroring the
more efette life style of the Golden Age. The lower portions
of these minarets are undecorated because they originally
formed part of the main building.
All these minarets are subjected to extreme wind and sand
abrasion during the period of the 120-days’ wind. You
will find bits and pieces of mosaic pried loose by the relentless
force scattered on the plain around them. What man ha not
destroyed, nature seems intent on claiming. Even so, what
has withstood 560 years of onslaught still gleams with a brilliance
and purity of color impossible to duplicate today.
An unadorned domed structure between the two madrassas is
the mausoleum of Mir Ali Sher Nawai, Sultan Husain’
prime minister. He was an avid builder-restorer and is credited
with building 370 mosques, colleges, hospitals, libraries,
bridges and rest houses. He died in 1501 at the age of 62.
From Dupree, N. H. An historical guide to Afghanistan.
Kabul. 1977. p. 250
CONDITION:
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