Antiquities of Samarkand. Tomb of the Saint Kusam-ibn-Abbas (Shah-i Zindah) and Adjacent Mausoleums. Mausoleum of Emir Assad (Abdul Khayum). Facade

1865
This photograph of the ruins of an unidentified mausoleum at the Shah-i Zindah necropolis in Samarkand is from the archeological part of Turkestan Album. The six-volume photographic survey was produced in 1871-72 under the patronage of General Konstantin P. von Kaufman, the first governor-general, in 1867-82, of Turkestan, as the Russian Empire’s Central Asian territories were called. The primary compilers for the visual material in the archeological volumes were Aleksandr L. Kun, an Orientalist attached to the army, and Nikolai V. Bogaevskii, a military engineer. They devoted special attention to Samarkand’s Islamic architecture, such as 14th- and 15th-century monuments from the reign of Tamerlane and his successors. Of particular note is Shah-i Zindah (Persian for “living king”), built on the elevated site of an ancient settlement known as Afrosiab and revered as a memorial to Kusam-ibn-Abbas, a cousin of the Prophet Muhammad. Most of this unnamed mausoleum collapsed, but the surviving ornamental fragments on the main facade reveal a decorative technique similar to that of the nearby Usto Ali mausoleum. In both cases there are vertical bands with interconnected strapwork and geometric motifs. No information exists on the identity of the patron or the builder, but the resemblance suggests a similar date of construction (circa 1380).

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Filename: 3648.jpg
Copyright: acku Afghanistan
Image Size: 2250x1800 / 471.7KB; 1865 Uzbekistan Samarqand Samarkand Antiquities Tombs Saint Kusam-ibn-Abbas Shah-i-Zindah Mausoleum Abdul Khayum Islamic Architecture Archaeological Sites Sepulchral Monuments Ruins Men Photo WDL 010108
Contained in galleries: UZBEKISTAN

1865<br />
This photograph of the ruins of an unidentified mausoleum at the Shah-i Zindah necropolis in Samarkand is from the archeological part of Turkestan Album. The six-volume photographic survey was produced in 1871-72 under the patronage of General Konstantin P. von Kaufman, the first governor-general, in 1867-82, of Turkestan, as the Russian Empire’s Central Asian territories were called. The primary compilers for the visual material in the archeological volumes were Aleksandr L. Kun, an Orientalist attached to the army, and Nikolai V. Bogaevskii, a military engineer. They devoted special attention to Samarkand’s Islamic architecture, such as 14th- and 15th-century monuments from the reign of Tamerlane and his successors. Of particular note is Shah-i Zindah (Persian for “living king”), built on the elevated site of an ancient settlement known as Afrosiab and revered as a memorial to Kusam-ibn-Abbas, a cousin of the Prophet Muhammad. Most of this unnamed mausoleum collapsed, but the surviving ornamental fragments on the main facade reveal a decorative technique similar to that of the nearby Usto Ali mausoleum. In both cases there are vertical bands with interconnected strapwork and geometric motifs. No information exists on the identity of the patron or the builder, but the resemblance suggests a similar date of construction (circa 1380).