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palatial

palace

Historic Preservation

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IMG42075

Uzbekistan

Import

restoration and conservation

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IAA13366

Aq Saray Palace Restoration

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IAA13372

Aq Saray Palace

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IAA13370

Ak Sarai

Variant

Ak Saray

White Palace

Central Asian dynasty founded by Timur which flourished from the end of the fourteenth century to the end of the fifteenth.<table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="3"><tbody><tr> <th> </th></tr></tbody></table>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Timur was born a member of the Barlas tribe and claimed
 descent from the Mongol Khan Chatagay. By 1370/771 AH Timur had gained control
 of Samarkand and Balkh after which he spent ten years consolidating his
 control of Central Asia. From 1381/782 AH Timur extended the range of his 
operations and managed to gain control of Iran, Iraq, Syria, the 
Caucasus and Delhi. In 1402/804 AH Timur's excursions into Anatolia brought him
 into conflict with the Ottoman sultan Bayazit whom he defeated and 
captured at the battle of Ankara. One of the results of these 
wide-ranging conquests was the collection of skilled craftsmen from all 
over the Middle East who were used to enrich the new capital at 
Samarkand. Timur died in 1405/807 AH and was succeeded by his son Shah Rukh who
 ruled the empire from Herat where he had been governor during the reign
 of Timur. Samarkand was ruled by Shah Rukh's son Ulugh Beg whilst Fars 
was ruled first by his nephew Ibrahim. By the mid-fifteenth century the 
western provinces were mostly lost to the Turkmans leaving Herat as 
capital of a much diminished empire which continued until 1507/912 AH when it 
was taken over by the Turkmans.



 

 

 

 
 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The best preserved Timurid structure in Herat is the shrine of 
the mystic of Khwajeh 'Abdallah Ansari at Gazur Gah. The complex is 
built on the plan of a four-iwan madrassa and oriented to the qibla 
(i.e. east-west) with the entrance in the centre of the west facade. The
 entrance portal consists of a large iwan, half-octagonal in plan, 
leading into the rectangular central courtyard. There is a mosque and 
cells for mystics at the western end, whilst at the eastern end is a 
shallow iwan set into a tall pishtaq.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The main building material employed for imperial monuments was baked 
brick although dressed stone was used in Azerbayjan. The standard brick 
form was square (24-27 cm per side and 4-7 cm thick) whilst cut or 
moulded bricks were relatively rare compared with earlier periods. 
Mortar was usually quick-setting gypsum plaster rather than the more 
common lime plaster. The standard method of exterior decoration was tile
 revetments which were on a larger scale than in previous periods. Two 
main forms of tilework were used, tile mosaic, with individual coloured 
pieces cut to form patterns, and underglaze-painted tiles known as 'haft
 rangi' (seven colours). The underglaze-painted tiles tended to be of a 
lower quality but were useful for covering large areas. 
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;A large variety of arch forms were used including round, two-, 
three-, and four-centre arches, although the most common was the 
three-centred arch with a high crown, where the height of the arch was 
more than half the height of the entire opening. A large variety of 
domes and vaults were employed which displays the wide range of 
influences in Timurid architecture. One of the most significant vaulting
 forms employed was based on the use of wide transverse arches spanning 
between parallel walls. Vaults of various forms were then built to cover
 the area between each transverse arch to produce a large vaulted area. 
The vaults used to span the arches included tunnel or barrel vaults, 
stellar vaults and cross vaults, all of which produce characteristic 
humps on the roofs of buildings.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Dome forms became increasingly distinctive under the Timurids 
with the development of double-shell domes where there is an outer dome 
and a shallower inner dome. The characteristic outer dome form consists 
of a tall 'melon-shaped' structure set on a high drum and decorated with
 ribs covered in decorative tilework.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The most characteristic feature of Timurid imperial buildings is 
their massive scale, emphasized by huge entrance portals and thick 
minarets covered in tile decoration. Internally the buildings are 
slightly less well organized and they often have a large variety of 
smaller rooms whose relationship to the overall plan is not always 
evident. 
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The most famous of the Timurid monuments are the shrine of Ahmed 
Yasavi at Turkestan (Yasi) in Khazakstan and the Masjid Jami' at 
Samarkand. The monuments are quite similar in their scale and conception
 with huge portal iwans behind which rise characteristic melon-shaped 
domes on high collars or drums. The Ahmed Yasavi tomb was built by Timur
 for his son Jahangir whilst the Masjid Jami' at Samarkand was built to 
commemorate the Timurid capture of Delhi. Other monumental projects 
carried out by Timur include the mausoleums at Shahrisbaz (his first 
capital) for his father Taraghay and the Gur-i-Amir for his son Muhammad
 Sultan at Samarkand. In addition Timur undertook massive civil 
engineering projects including building the towns of Baylaqan, 
Shahrukhiya and Iryah, the citadels and walls of Ghazui, Balkh and 
Samarkand.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The later Timurid buildings of Herat in Afghanistan mirror those 
of the early Timurid Empire, although many were destroyed in the 
nineteenth century. One of the most celebrated buildings in Herat was 
the mosque and madrassa built by the architect Qavam al-Din for the wife
 of Shah Rukh. Little is left of the complex except for two minarets at 
diagonally opposite corners of the mosque and a minaret and iwan from 
the madrassa. 
 Petersen, Andrew.&nbsp;Dictionary of Islamic Architecture. London and New York: Routledge, 1999.

Aq Saray Palace Restoration
Shakhrisabz, Uzbekistan

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Aq Saray Palace RestorationShakhrisabz, Uzbekistan

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Aq Saray Palace Restoration
Shakhrisabz, Uzbekistan

Aq Saray Palace Restoration
Shakhrisabz, Uzbekistan