Passage of the Dead. Detail above Entrance. Samarkand

1905
The Shah-i Zindah (Persian for “living king”) necropolis is located at the outskirts of Samarkand. Situated on an ancient burial ground, it is revered as a memorial to Kusam-ibn-Abbas, a cousin of the Prophet Muhammad. Its numerous burial shrines and related buildings are said to date from the 11th to the 19th centuries. The caption of this photograph is unclear. The remains of a wall and attached column seen here seem to be located on the outer, west side of the necropolis near the third, northernmost chartak (entrance chamber) in the necropolis passageway. The column is decorated with a simple geometric pattern of glazed tiles. In the left background is a view of the hillside, with burial mounds. The image is by Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944), who used a special color photography process to create a visual record of the Russian Empire in the early 20th century. Some of Prokudin-Gorskii’s photographs date from about 1905, but the bulk of his work is from between 1909 and 1915, when, with the support of Tsar Nicholas II and the Ministry of Transportation, he undertook extended trips through many different parts of the empire. In 1911 his travels took him to Turkestan (present-day Uzbekistan and neighboring states), where he devoted special attention to monuments of Islamic architecture.

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Filename: 5778.jpg
Copyright: acku Afghanistan
Image Size: 1800x1653 / 566.6KB; 1905 Uzbekistan Samarqand Samarkand Shah-i-Zindah Arches Architectural Decorations Photo WDL 010437
Contained in galleries: UZBEKISTAN

1905<br />
The Shah-i Zindah (Persian for “living king”) necropolis is located at the outskirts of Samarkand. Situated on an ancient burial ground, it is revered as a memorial to Kusam-ibn-Abbas, a cousin of the Prophet Muhammad. Its numerous burial shrines and related buildings are said to date from the 11th to the 19th centuries. The caption of this photograph is unclear. The remains of a wall and attached column seen here seem to be located on the outer, west side of the necropolis near the third, northernmost chartak (entrance chamber) in the necropolis passageway. The column is decorated with a simple geometric pattern of glazed tiles. In the left background is a view of the hillside, with burial mounds. The image is by Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944), who used a special color photography process to create a visual record of the Russian Empire in the early 20th century. Some of Prokudin-Gorskii’s photographs date from about 1905, but the bulk of his work is from between 1909 and 1915, when, with the support of Tsar Nicholas II and the Ministry of Transportation, he undertook extended trips through many different parts of the empire. In 1911 his travels took him to Turkestan (present-day Uzbekistan and neighboring states), where he devoted special attention to monuments of Islamic architecture.