Kalyan Minaret
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Alternative Titles
Kalan Minaret
Kalyan Masjid
Kalyan Masjid (Masjid-i Jami')
Kalyan Congregational Mosque
Kalyan Friday Mosque
Tower of Death
Kalyan Mosque
Masjid-i Jami
Date
1127-1129Description
general view, rear of entrance portal seen from within mosque courtyard, with upper portion of Kalyan Minaret visible, 1994 Rising 46 meters (150ft), the Kalyan minaret is the most prominent visual landmark within the city of Bukhara. Erected as part of a twelfth century mosque later replaced by the existing Kalyan mosque, the baked brick construction forms a thick, tapering cylindrical shaft capped by a rotunda with 16 arches. A multi-tiered muqarnas cornice crowns the entire structure. Baked brickwork decorates the shaft in bands of various, unrepeated patterns.
The minaret was not only used for the call to prayer, but also as a watchtower during periods of war. Tradition also relates that the condemned were in earlier times sentenced to a death on the stones beneath the minaret, after a fall from its heights.
Type of Work
Minaret, MosqueSubject
Mosques, Minarets, Madrasahs, Islamic religious education, Four-iwan mosques, Complexes, Architecture, Islamic--Asia, Central, Architecture, Islamic --Uzbekistan, Jamis, Portals
Rights
Rights Statement
All rights reserved
Item is Part of
121788114109