Pe Drumul Matasii in Uzbekistan 20. Mausoleul Samanizilor / On the Silk Road in Uzbekistan 20. Mausoleum of Samani Dynasty

On our first morning in Bukhara we visited the mausoleum of the Samani dynasty. In the middle of a park, it seems that the construction is floating among the trees and flowers. It reminded me on some constructions I have seen in India.

The mausoleum has been constructed at the end of the 9^th century and the beginning of the 10^th. Ismail Samani, the founder of the last Persian dynasty in Central Asia, constructed the mausoleum for his father, in spite of the Islamic interdiction to erect a construction over a tomb. He only took the example of a caliph from Baghdad. The mausoleum became in time a family crypt, were his father, he himself and his grandson Nasra are burried.

This is the oldest intact monument in Bukhara. The locals covered it with sand to protect it during Genghis Khan’s invasion. It is also the first mausoleum constructed in Central Asia.

To put a hemi-spheric dome on a cube, without inside columns, means very precise mathematical calculations. But this was not a problem for Bukhara, a world center for science by that time!

Using only baked bricks, beautiful patterns have been created out of vertical and horizontal lines but also using disks and rosettes. All in one, the monument is a masterpiece which mirrors his eternity in a little pond beside.

In prima dimineata la Bukhara, primul obiectiv vizitat a fost – nu intamplator – mausoleul dinastiei Samanizilor. Aflat in parcul cu acelasi nume, mica constructie de o perfectiune neasteptata, pare ca pluteste intre arbori si flori. De indata ce am privit-o mai indeaproape, mi-a amintit de multe constructii vazute in India.

 

Mausoleul a fost construit la sfarsitul secolului al 9-lea si inceputul celui de-al 10-lea de catre Ismail Samani, pentru tatal sau. Traditia islamica interzicea ridicarea unei constructii deasupra unui mormant dar Ismail nu a facut altceva decat sa urmeze exemplul unui calif din Bagdad (caruia se supunea inca Bukhara la inceputul domniei sale). In timp, mausoleul a devenit o cripta de familie in care sunt inmormantati tatal lui Ismail Samani, Ismail si nepotul sau, Nasra.

Acesta este cel mai vechi monument pastrat intact in Bukhara. Pentru a-l ocroti, localnicii l-au acoperit cu nisip in timpul invaziei lui Genghis Han. Primul mausoleu construit in Asia Centrala se datoreaza ultimei dinastii persane din aceasta parte a lumii, dinastie intemeiata de chiar Ismail Samani.

Constructia consta dintr-un dom semi-sferic, asezat pe un cub. Calcule matematice foarte precise au fost necesare pentru a crea o bolta care nu este sprijinita pe stalpi in interior. Bukhara era insa in acea vreme un mare centru mondial al stiintei, asa ca asta nu a reprezentat o problema.

Cubul simbolizeaza Pamantul si cupola, Cerul. Impreuna, constructia simbolizeaza Universul. Pe fatadele exterioare se afla simboluri ale Zoroastrismului, iar in interior modele geometrice, bazate pe linii orizontale si verticale dar si rozete si discuri. Si totul din caramida arsa! Desi nu s-a folosit culoare sau placi de ceramica, ca si la alte constructii autohtone, frumusetea monumentului este impresionanta!

 grupul nostru

Mausoleul isi oglindeste vesnicia in micul bazin de alaturi. Parcul, ceva mai incolo, rasuna de strigatele copiilor.