This photograph of the mosque at the Nadir Divan-Begi Madrasah in Samarkand (Uzbekistan) 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 (1867-82) of Turkestan, as the Russian Empire’s Central Asian territories were called. The album devotes special attention to Samarkand’s Islamic architectural heritage. Located next to the Khodzha Akhrar shrine, this <em>madrasah</em> (religious school) was completed in 1631 by Nadir Divan-Begi, vizier to the Bukharan ruler Imam-Quli Khan. The madrasah was planned as a rectangular courtyard with a mosque at one end. A monumental <em>iwan</em> (vaulted hall, walled on three sides, with one end open) arch occupies the center of the main facade of the mosque. This view shows a part of the upper left wall within the niche formed by the great arch. The wall surface displays geometric tile patterns, including block Kufic letters that signify words from the Kalima, the basis of the Shahada, or Islamic declaration of faith. A horizontal ceramic inscription in Perso-Arabic script extends across the facade at the point where the niche’s flanking wall (on the left) curves inward to form the iwan arch. On the right are floral and geometric figures in polychrome faience work that surrounds the upper part of the portal arch (<em>peshtak</em>) situated within the iwan.
<br>Architectural decorations and ornaments; Islamic architecture; Mosques; Photographic surveys
Bogaevskii, Nikolai V., 1843-1912
between 1868 and 1872 <div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1850-00-00T00:00:00Z/7,P1319,+1868-00-00T00:00:00Z/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/3788/">http://www.wdl.org/en/item/3788/</a></li></ul>