7-Day The Samani Mavsoleum and Mavsoleum of Chashma-Ayyub

   Today is the  7-day  our  practice  lesson.  Today`s  guidies  Marjana  and  I😊

Today  we  visited  Samani  Mavsoleum  and  Mavsoleum  of  Chashma-ayyub

The Samanid mausoleum is located in the historical urban nucleus of the city of Bukhara, in a park laid out on the site of an ancient cemetery. The mesmerizing tomb of Ismael Samani is an architectural bolt from the blue. The oldest, best preserved and most breathtakingly original building in Bukhara, it is without doubt oneof the architectural highlights of any visit to Uzbekistan. This mausoleum in Samani Park, completed in 905, is the town’s oldest Muslim monument and probably its sturdiest architecturally.

According to the legend, the founder of Samanids dynasty, Ismail Samanid, built this mausoleum for the father. Later this building became the family burial-vault of all Samanids. Presumably, Ismail himself, who died in 907, and his grandson Nasr II ibn Ahmad, who died in 943 and whose name was found on the wood plate above the entrance, were buried here.

This mausoleum is recognized to be a masterpiece of the world architecture for the perfection of its geometric forms. It is one of the most ancient buildings made from burnt bricks in Central Asia.

The almost perfect brick cube was built at the beginning of the tenth century and belongs to the great cultural resurgence of the Samanid dynasty (875-999). The cubic shape harks back to the Kaaba in the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, and the dome above it represents the heavens. The complex patterns in the brickwork add texture to the four equal facades, enticing visitors to run their hands across the grainy surface.

The tomb derives its name from the founder of the dynasty, Ismael, and contains not only his tomb but also that of his father Ahmed, his nephew Nasr and others of the Samanid line.

The mausoleum draws elements from early Sogdian architecture (such as the heavy corner but tresses) and Sassanid fire worship (witness the circular brick suns and canopy shape of sacred Zoroastrian temples). Combining these with the recent arithmetic and geometrical advances made by al-Khorezmi, al-Fergani and ibn-Sina and the latest squinch technology, to forge an artistic style, the monumental mazaar, would serve as an architectural formula for centuries to come.

Its intricate baked-terracotta brickwork – which gradually changes ‘personality’ through the day as the shadows shift – disguises walls almost 2m thick, helping it survive without restoration (except of the spiked dome) for 11 centuries.

The construction is of a 10.8-metre cube with four identical facades, all of which slope slightly inward and upon which sits a hemispherical cupola ringed with four domelets. Four internal arches supported by corner pillars form the squinch upon which rests the eight and 16-sided transition to the drum. This chortak ('four arch') system was revolutionary for the time and came to dominate countless subsequent memorial tombs in Transoxiana. From the outside the zone of transition is masked by a gallery of ten windows which provide light and ventilation for the cool inner tombs. The mausoleum is also rich in symbolism. Its cube not only refers back to the sacred kaaba stone at Mecca, but furthermore symbolizes the earth and complements its dome, symbol of the heavens, to create a metaphor of the universe.

The true majesty of the building lies in the vivacity and textured richness of its basket-woven brickwork, set in a series of absorbingly complex patterns after the completion of the main skeleton structure. Such is the skill of the brickwork that its mood is at once sombre and spectacular, subdued yet dynamic, shifting emphasis with the angle of the sun. Its corner buttresses stand as Herculean support, its two-meter thick walls woven in weightless delicacy. If time allows, try to visit the building at different hours, even at night.

The 1,000 year-old tomb is a sacred site for locals for several reasons. Originally, the tombstone had two openings, one where anxious pilgrims would place their questions, dilemmas and donations and another where a hidden mullah would leave the orthodox/ considered solution. The site was also originally one of the holiest cemeteries in Bukhara.

MAVSOLEUM  OF 

 CHASHMA- AYYUB

Chashmah-Ayyub Mausoleum (also spelled Chashma-Ayub) is a cult historic building with a sacred spring in the center of Bukhara. It was named after the saint Ayyub, known as Job in the Bible. According to legend, the people who lived where Bukhara grew afterwards were dying of thirst, for water had left the area. When they saw Job wandering there, they asked him to help. Job hit the ground with his staff, thus opening a spring with clean and healing water. The local people still believe the spring water is healing.

The mausoleum was built right over the spring, not far from Ismail Samani Mausoleum and the ruins of the ancient city wall. The structure is crowned with domes of various sizes. The central double-dome over the main chamber features a tent-like top, which is uncharacteristic of Bukhara. The smaller chambers under the rest of the domes are dim and charmingly mysterious.

The mausoleum was built in the 12th сentury during the reign of the Karakhanids  (also spelled Qarakhanids). Two centuries later Tamerlane brought master craftsmen from Khorezm and ordered them to extend the building. That was why the mausoleum has characteristic Khorezmian  architectural features. During the 14th - 19th с the building was reconstructed several times.

There are a few graves in the mausoleum. The earliest of them is of the famous expert in hadith, theologian and author of historical treatises Hajji Hafiz Gunjori. He was buried there in 1022.

Today the mausoleum houses Water Museum and Carpet Exhibition. The museum exhibits deal with the history of Bukhara region irrigation and water supply. Among them stand out the ceramic water pipes dating back to the 18th - 19th centuries, copper water containers with chased designs and leather water bags dating back to the 19th - 20th centuries.

Once you get to the mausoleum, you must try the clean crystal water of the spring. Saint Ayyub will never forget you and give you better health then!