Astana-Baba
Astana-Baba
This is an unusual and attractive complex, consisting of four domed rooms, reached by way of a brick corridor beyond the portal, the corridor leading into a now roofless four-pillared hall before reaching the first of the domed rooms.
The two westernmost domed rooms, those furthest from the entrance, each contain two tombs. The building has been progressively enlarged, and several times altered, over the centuries. The oldest part of the complex seems to comprise the two easternmost domed rooms, one of them a mosque, the other containing a single tomb, which probably date from the 12th century. The portal and the twin-tombed room known as the Kizlyar-Bibi Mausoleum are among the most recent additions, probably 19th century. The whole complex is a place of shrine pilgrimage.
‘Astana’ derives from the Farsi word meaning ‘mausoleum’, and it is unclear who is actually buried beneath the various tombs. One tale begins with the sudden death at this place of the beloved only daughter of the ruler of Balkh, Ibn All Nur Ogly Zuveida, just a week after her marriage to a local worthy. The distraught father ordered the construction of a magnificent mausoleum to his daughter. But no sooner was the building completed than it fell down. This happened a second time, and a third. One day a wise old man advised the grieving father to mix earth and water brought from Mecca to the building materials. This he did, and this time the building remained standing. On his death, the father was buried in the mausoleum alongside the daughter he had loved so much.
Astana-Baba
This is an unusual and attractive complex, consisting of four domed rooms, reached by way of a brick corridor beyond the portal, the corridor leading into a now roofless four-pillared hall before reaching the first of the domed rooms.
The two westernmost domed rooms, those furthest from the entrance, each contain two tombs. The building has been progressively enlarged, and several times altered, over the centuries. The oldest part of the complex seems to comprise the two easternmost domed rooms, one of them a mosque, the other containing a single tomb, which probably date from the 12th century. The portal and the twin-tombed room known as the Kizlyar-Bibi Mausoleum are among the most recent additions, probably 19th century. The whole complex is a place of shrine pilgrimage.
‘Astana’ derives from the Farsi word meaning ‘mausoleum’, and it is unclear who is actually buried beneath the various tombs. One tale begins with the sudden death at this place of the beloved only daughter of the ruler of Balkh, Ibn All Nur Ogly Zuveida, just a week after her marriage to a local worthy. The distraught father ordered the construction of a magnificent mausoleum to his daughter. But no sooner was the building completed than it fell down. This happened a second time, and a third. One day a wise old man advised the grieving father to mix earth and water brought from Mecca to the building materials. This he did, and this time the building remained standing. On his death, the father was buried in the mausoleum alongside the daughter he had loved so much.
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