Perfect Geometry of Brick Work at the Samanid Mausoleum

The Ismail Samani Mausoleum is the site of burial for the founder of the Samanid dynasty, a period of time considered to be one of the most glorious throughout Uzbekistan’s antiquity. The Samanids were Persian aristocracy with origin from Iran. The reign lasted between 819-1005 A.D. Ismail Samanid, the great-grandson of Saman-Khuda, was the one that strengthened the ruling of the Samanids by uniting all the Samanid states into one empire. Under the Samanids, the capital of Bukhara and the city of Samarkand became the centers of Persian culture, as the Samanids were patrons of science, literature, the arts and religion. It is said that Bukhara under the Samanid rule had a glory that rivaled that of Baghdad. Unlike so many of the monuments in Uzbekistan, the Ismail Samani Mausoleum did not have to go through a complete reconstruction in the modern times. For many of Uzbekistan’s monuments, the near-wholesale destruction of the original structure by wars or earthquakes necessitated a complete rebuilding. The reason being that, when the Mongols invaded Bukhara in the 13th century, the Ismail Samani Mausoleum was buried both far in the ebbs of time and also in the depths of the Bukharan desert. The powerful forces of nature saved the Ismail Samani Mausoleum from the traumas of human-originated disasters. As such it is the oldest Islamic monument in Bukhara, constructed in the early 10th century. Although it may have looked a bit plain at first glance, the Ismail Samani Mausoleum presents an aesthetics that is miles apart from all the other historic structures that we saw in Uzbekistan. There was no adornment in this firebrick structure. The Ismail Samani Mausoleum was truly different from the elaborate colors that grace the traditional Uzbek monuments with turquoise domes and mosaic-laden iwans — much less anything that resembled the somewhat contrived efforts to implant Russian-styled architecture like that of the Sitorai Mokhi Khosa. It was a very nice change of scenery for us. The lack of colors and mosaics does not stop one from appreciating the beauty of Ismail Samani Mausoleum. The intricacy lies in the fascinating layout of the brickwork, in perfectly uniform geometrics. #uzbekistan #uzbekhistory #samanid #ismailsamanimausoleum #mausoleum #bukhara #centralasia #travel