Architecture—Central Asia | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

Architecture in Central Asia has a very long history—the oldest evidence of human-made structures was discovered in early farming settlements dated around 7000 BCE. These sites lie in the oases north of the Kopet Dag Mountains that extend about 645 kilometers between present-day northeast Iran and Turkmenistan. Here in southern Turkmenistan, the Neolithic village of Djeitun had thirty one-room houses made of mud bricks, with plastered floors, hearths, and often wall paintings. In the same area, at the Early Chalcolithic site of Chagilli Tepe, dated around 5000 BCE, were multiroom houses that formed large complexes along streets and alleys.

Larger settlements arose in Central Asia during the Middle Chalcolithic Age (c. 4000–3500 BCE). In the Tedzhen River delta in present-day south Turkmenistan, fortified settlements arose; these had circular towers connected to thick walls, with a large rectangular house on a platform in the middle. Protourban settlements (Namazga Tepe and Altyn Tepe) arose in the Late Chalcolithic (c. 3500–3000 BCE) and expanded in the Early Bronze Age (3000–2500 BCE), reaching areas of fifty and twenty-five hectares, respectively. At Altyn Tepe, pilastered ramparts 2.3 meters thick were flanked by two rectangular towers in the north, while two rectangular towers protected the main entrance, flanking the 6-meter-thick wall in the south. There was also an elite quarter with richly decorated multiroom houses and wide streets, a crafts quarter with pottery kilns and copper-smelting furnaces, a priests' quarter with shrines, and a monumental towerlike structure on a stepped platform, resembling Mesopotamian ziggurats (temple towers).

Several large settlements with square-shaped fortresses appeared in the delta of the Murgab River that flows though northwestern Afghanistan and southeastern Turkmenistan. Large sites are also noted north and south of the Amu Dar'ya River that flows from the Pamirs to the Aral Sea. In this region, the fortified settlement of Sapalli Tepe consisted of several multiroom quarters with T-shaped corridors clustered along the streets. Smaller fortified settlements with citadels appeared in the Murgab delta during the Early Iron Age (1200–800 BCE). Iron Age (700–400 BCE) settlements in the Fergana Valley, in today's Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan, had defensive walls with towers and monumental buildings.

Several urban-type settlements and fortresses arose in southern Turkmenistan when this area became included in the Parthian kingdom (c. 250 BCE–c. 226 CE). The largest settlement, New Nisa, had a palatial building and several temples.

Following the eastern campaigns of Alexander of Macedon (356–323 BCE), Central Asia became part of an independent Bactrian kingdom (250–130 BCE), greatly influenced by Greek culture. The city of Ai Khanum, located on the left bank of the Amu Dar'ya River and protected by thick mud-brick walls, possessed impressive public buildings, including a royal palace, gymnasium, theater, arsenal, and Greek-style residential houses.

Later, Bactria was incorporated into the powerful Kushan kingdom (78–200), whose rulers encouraged the spread of Buddhism. The city of Airtam, on the Amu Dar'ya, had a significant Buddhist temple with a sculptured frieze. The city of Khalchyan on the Surkhandarya River in today's Uzbekistan included a palace with a gallery of sculptures of local rulers. Dalverzin Tepe on the same river had a citadel, palace, and residential areas within the city walls.

As early as the eighth or seventh century BCE, Afrasitab (Samarqand before the time of Timur, the Turkic conqueror, 1336–1405) and Yerkurgan had developed as fortified settlements along the middle stretches of the Zeravshan River, which flows through today's Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. During the third through sixth centuries, Yerkurgan possessed a palatial building and at least two temples. At the same time, Toprak-Qala, north of the Amu Dar'ya and opposite the city of Urganch in western Uzbekistan, was protected by rectangular clay walls; it had three towered castles with a range of palatial halls. The so-called Hall of Kings had painted walls and housed a collection of clay statues of local rulers, their wives, and warriors, some of them of Indian ancestry. A different architectural design consisting of concentric circles was found at the nearby site of Koy-Kryglan-Qala.

The fourth and fifth centuries saw a decline in urban development in Central Asia following the collapse of the Kushan state in India and the conquest of the region by the Persian Sasanid dynasty (224/228–651). In the sixth through eighth centuries, the older cities such as Samarqand, Toprak-Qala, and Mary (in today's Turkmenistan) recovered, and new ones (Pendjikent and many others) were established. These included fortified sites (such as castles, keshk), palaces, ritual places, and dwelling houses. Pendjikent consisted of blocks of two-story houses with vaulted roofs and walls often covered with paintings and decorated with carving. In Uzbekistan, the cities of Afrasiab, Varakhsha, and Pendjikent had monumental palaces erected on elevated platforms, with several large halls adorned with wall paintings. Ritual places reflected a multitude of religious beliefs: Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and Manichaeism.

The spread of Islam following the Arab conquests in the seventh and eighth centuries led to the emergence of architecture that was typically Islamic. The oldest mosques in Samarqand (Afrasiab), Mary, and Bashan are dated to the ninth and tenth centuries. Early mausoleums or monumental tombs are known in the city of Bukhara in Uzbekistan and Samarqand, among others. During the Seljuk dynasty (1038–1157), stone-built caravansaries arose along the Central Asian trade routes.

The Mongol invasion in 1220–1221 led to almost total destruction of urban life in Central Asia. Only mausoleums have survived from that period. Timur, however, who made Samarqand his base of power in 1370, contributed to a new rise in urban development with the erection of numerous monumental buildings. Architectural traditions were enhanced under the reign of Ulugh Beg (1394–1449), Timur's grandson, who made Samarqand a center of Muslim culture. Impressive monuments of the Timurid era (fourteenth to fifteenth centuries) included mausoleums, mosques, and madrasahs (religious colleges) in Samarqand, as well as libraries, hospitals, and water-supply facilities.

Traditional Central Asian architecture included several types of mosques: a dome over a square chamber, an open barrel-vaulted hall, a richly decorated portal (the iwan), and an open court surrounded by arcades; the minarets or prayer towers were circular or conical. Mausoleums usually had a domed structure raised over a square base. The madrasah consisted of an inner courtyard surrounded by one- or two-story buildings that included a mosque, lecture rooms, and living rooms.

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, urban development was restricted to larger cities such as Samarqand and Bukhara, where impressive architectural assemblages were erected. Large mosques had a main dome, typically onion shaped in Central Asia, and an impressive arched iwan along the central axis; smaller district mosques had open iwans; madrasahs were designed with four iwans, a central court, numerous cells, a monumental pishtak (portico), and corner minarets. Domed bazaars and water reservoirs also date from this period.

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, impressive palatial buildings were erected, particularly in Khiva, in the oasis west of the lower Amu Dar'ya in Uzbekistan. After Central Asia became part of the Russian empire in 1860, European-type agglomerations developed alongside the older structures in major administrative centers such as Tashkent and Samarqand in Uzbekistan and Ashkhabad in southern Turkmenistan. Under Soviet rule (1920–1991) there was an intensive development of residential housing throughout Central Asia, along with public buildings (theaters, museums, educational and recreational facilities). After independence in 1991, new official buildings were constructed, particularly in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, with the intention of developing an infrastructure for tourism.

Pavel Dolukhanov

Bernard, P. N. (1982) "An Ancient Greek City in Central Asia." Scientific American 246: 126–135.

Gippenreiter, Vadim Evgenevich, and Robin Magowan. (1989) Fabled Cities of Central Asia: Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva. New York: Abbeville Press.

Golombek, Lisa, and Donald Wilber. (1988) The Timurid Architecture of Iran and Turan. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Herder, Klaus. (1990) Formal Structure in Islamic Architecture of Iran and Turkistan. Pref. by Oleg Grabar. New York: Rizzoli.

Knobloch, Edgar. (1972) Beyond the Oxus: Archaeology, Art, and Architecture of Central Asia. London: Ernst Benn.

——. (2001) Monuments of Central Asia: A Guide to the Archaeology, Art, and Architecture of Turkestan. London and New York: I. B. Tauris.

Pugachenkova, Galina Anatolevna. (1983) Srednyaya Aziya: Spravochnik-putevoditel' (Middle Asia: Dictionary-Guide). Moscow: Iskusstvo.

Stavisskii, Boris Iakovlevich. (1974) Iskusstvo Srednei Azii (Art of Middle Asia). Moscow: Iskusstvo.

This complete Architecture—Central Asia contains 1,355 words. This article contains 1,402 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page).