Read more
Studies the surviving pre-Mongol monuments of Islamic architecture in Central Asia
This is a comprehensive study of the surviving monuments of the Qarakhanids - an important yet little-known medieval dynasty that ruled much of Central Asia between the late 10th and early 13th centuries. Based on extensive fieldwork and many hard-to-find Russian sources, the book places the surviving monuments into the wider cultural context of the region. Many photographs and new ground-plans are included, as well as detailed studies of individual monuments and the wider architectural aesthetic. These monuments serve as the link between the mostly lost Samanid architecture and the far larger and better-known monuments of the Timurids.
Key Features
¿ The first complete overview of the corpus of Qarakhanid monuments, with a detailed overview of the extant Soviet-era literature and a study of the inscriptions
¿ Includes archival images from Soviet-era publications showing the buildings prior to loss or reconstruction
¿ Integrates the monuments into the wider region, transcending the nationalist approach of much of the earlier scholarship
¿ Includes an easy-to-use gazetteer to facilitate finding the monuments
¿ Features extensive colour images of many previously unpublished details of the buildings
¿ Integrates the extant structures and the extensive but hard-to find archeological evidence
¿ Examines the links between architecture and smaller-scale material culture, especially the epigraphy seen on coins
¿ Includes detailed studies of the major Qarakhanid monuments including the Shah Fazl tomb in Safid Buland, the three tombs in Uzgend and the Kalan minaret in Bukhara
Richard P. McClary is Islamic Art and Architecture Lecturer at the University of York. He is the author of Rum Seljuq Architecture, 1170-1220: The Patronage of Sultans (Edinburgh University Press, 2017).
List of contents
List of Figures; Series Editor's Forward; Preface; Acknowledgments; Note on Transliteration; Introduction; 1. Antecedent Structures in the Region; 2. The Earliest Intact Tomb: Shah Fazl at Safid Buland; 3. The Development of a Style: Three Tombs at Uzgend; 4. Bukhara: A Study of Three Structures; 5. Minarets of the Qarakhanids; 6. The Qarakhanid Aesthetic: Structural Methods and Decoration; 7. Epigraphic Styles: The Numismatic and Architectural Evidence; 8. Urban Developments under the Qarakhanids: The Archaeological and Textual Evidence; Conclusion; Bibliography; Gazetteer; Index.
About the author
Richard McClary studies pre-Mongol architecture of the wider Iranian world, from Anatolia and Iraq to Iran and Central Asia. He also works on Iranian ceramics, with a particular focus on mina'i wares. He completed his doctorate at the University of Edinburgh, on Rum Seljuq architecture, and had published on monuments across Anatolia, as well as in Mosul. He held a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship at the University of Edinburgh and is now a lecturer at the University of York, where he teaches Islamic Art and Architecture.
Summary
This is a comprehensive study of the surviving monuments of the Qarakhanids an important yet little-known medieval dynasty that ruled much of Central Asia between the late 10th and early 13th centuries.
