This photograph of the Tuman-Aka mausoleum within the Shah-i Zindah necropolis in Samarkand is from the archeological part of <em>Turkestan Album</em>. 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 album devotes 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”), revered as a memorial to Kusam-ibn-Abbas, a cousin of the Prophet Muhammad. The Tuman-Aka mausoleum and mosque were built in 1405 as a memorial to the youngest wife of Tamerlane and are located to the left of the <em>chartak</em> in the northern cluster of shrines. This view of the mausoleum, taken over the broken parapet of the chartak, also includes a corner of the adjacent mosque facade (on the far left), as well as the Khodzha Akhmad mausoleum (on the right). The mausoleum facade is defined by a high arch (<em>peshtak</em>) that frames a niche containing the portal. Its mosaic panels, with floral, geometric, and inscriptional patterns, represent the apogee of architectural ceramics in this region. The arch culminates in “honey-comb” (<em>mocárabe</em>) decorative vaulting.
<br>Archaeological sites; Islamic architecture; Photographic surveys; Sepulchral monuments; Shāh-i Zindah; Tombs
Bogaevskii, Nikolai V., 1843-1912
between 1865 and 1872 <div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1850-00-00T00:00:00Z/7,P1319,+1865-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1326,+1872-00-00T00:00:00Z/9</div>
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<ul><li>Gallery: <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.wdl.org/en/item/3638/">http://www.wdl.org/en/item/3638/</a></li></ul>