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Rabati Malik
Rabati Malik,[dubious – discuss] also called Ribat-i Malik, is a caravanserai ruin located on the M37 road from Samarkand to Bukhara about a kilometer west of the edge of Malik, Navoiy Province, Uzbekistan. It was constructed along the Silk Road according to the orders of Karakhanid Shams al-Mulk Nasr, son of Tamgachkhan Ibragim, who ruled in Samarkand from 1068 until 1080.
The portal of the caravanserai – one of the most ancient places among the Central Asia portals – Iwan with the central lancet arch of the niche in which there is a rectangular doorway. The arch concludes with the Russian word П-shaped frame, executed from carved terracotta in the form of eight final stars connected with each other, limited by intertwining tapes. Arabic inscriptions decorate the ring. On overhanging walls, under the layers of repair plaster, the remains of ancient ganched plasters with figures of vegetative characters are traced.
The portal, as well as all caravanserais, has been laid out from adobe brick with the subsequent facing baked bricks measuring 25 × 25 × 4 cm in size, on the ganched solution. The average height of the kept walls ranges from 0.4 up to 0.7 m. Rabat consisted of a large yard (22.5 × 22.5 m) surrounded by two-storey buildings, supplied with water through ceramic pipes. The caravanserai occupies – 8277 sq. m.
During its construction, the Raboti Malik caravanserai was surrounded by two rows (outer and inner) of fortification walls. The tradition of enclosing caravanserai, palaces and temples with two rows of walls has been preserved in the architecture of Central Asia since the Bronze Age. Structures were surrounded by such a double-row wall mainly for protection purposes, besides, it also allowed to expand the area used for economic work. Historians speculate that the area between the walls was used to store cattle or fodder for cattle.
The inner fortress is surrounded by thick walls (the height of the southern and northern walls is about 2.35 m, the western and eastern parts are 1.5 m, the height of the front wall is about 12 m).These walls were restored in the form of a square measuring 84–86 m, and there were circular towers at the corners of its four sides (based on the research of Boris Zasipkin). Until the time of Zasipkin's studies, only the one of these towers, which was located in the southwestern corner, was preserved, while the other three have only unknown traces.
The main facade of the building faces south. There is a huge pediment in the center of the facade, which is the oldest surviving pediment of medieval architecture.
Rabat-i Mâlik holds a special place in the history of architecture. This is due to its impressive façade treatment of ornamental embedded cylindrical columns on the walls flanking the main entrance portal. The large, brick semi-columns were connected at the top by arches—a rare façade decor found on the flanking walls of the 2500-year-old Apadana palace at Persepolis, and at such Parthian and Sasanian monuments such as Firuzabad. The only other building of the Islamic period that contains such a treatment, is found on the minaret of Jarkurgan/Dzharkurgan in the neighbouring Surkhondaryo province of Uzbekistan.
Regrettably, except for the entrance portal that was badly damaged, the earthquake of 1968 totally demolished what was left of the rest of the rabat,[dubious – discuss] including the landmark flanking walls with the semi-column decorations. Luckily, detailed monochrome photographs are available of the old flanking walls to document this landmark building and help with accurate restorations in the future.
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Rabati Malik
Rabati Malik,[dubious – discuss] also called Ribat-i Malik, is a caravanserai ruin located on the M37 road from Samarkand to Bukhara about a kilometer west of the edge of Malik, Navoiy Province, Uzbekistan. It was constructed along the Silk Road according to the orders of Karakhanid Shams al-Mulk Nasr, son of Tamgachkhan Ibragim, who ruled in Samarkand from 1068 until 1080.
The portal of the caravanserai – one of the most ancient places among the Central Asia portals – Iwan with the central lancet arch of the niche in which there is a rectangular doorway. The arch concludes with the Russian word П-shaped frame, executed from carved terracotta in the form of eight final stars connected with each other, limited by intertwining tapes. Arabic inscriptions decorate the ring. On overhanging walls, under the layers of repair plaster, the remains of ancient ganched plasters with figures of vegetative characters are traced.
The portal, as well as all caravanserais, has been laid out from adobe brick with the subsequent facing baked bricks measuring 25 × 25 × 4 cm in size, on the ganched solution. The average height of the kept walls ranges from 0.4 up to 0.7 m. Rabat consisted of a large yard (22.5 × 22.5 m) surrounded by two-storey buildings, supplied with water through ceramic pipes. The caravanserai occupies – 8277 sq. m.
During its construction, the Raboti Malik caravanserai was surrounded by two rows (outer and inner) of fortification walls. The tradition of enclosing caravanserai, palaces and temples with two rows of walls has been preserved in the architecture of Central Asia since the Bronze Age. Structures were surrounded by such a double-row wall mainly for protection purposes, besides, it also allowed to expand the area used for economic work. Historians speculate that the area between the walls was used to store cattle or fodder for cattle.
The inner fortress is surrounded by thick walls (the height of the southern and northern walls is about 2.35 m, the western and eastern parts are 1.5 m, the height of the front wall is about 12 m).These walls were restored in the form of a square measuring 84–86 m, and there were circular towers at the corners of its four sides (based on the research of Boris Zasipkin). Until the time of Zasipkin's studies, only the one of these towers, which was located in the southwestern corner, was preserved, while the other three have only unknown traces.
The main facade of the building faces south. There is a huge pediment in the center of the facade, which is the oldest surviving pediment of medieval architecture.
Rabat-i Mâlik holds a special place in the history of architecture. This is due to its impressive façade treatment of ornamental embedded cylindrical columns on the walls flanking the main entrance portal. The large, brick semi-columns were connected at the top by arches—a rare façade decor found on the flanking walls of the 2500-year-old Apadana palace at Persepolis, and at such Parthian and Sasanian monuments such as Firuzabad. The only other building of the Islamic period that contains such a treatment, is found on the minaret of Jarkurgan/Dzharkurgan in the neighbouring Surkhondaryo province of Uzbekistan.
Regrettably, except for the entrance portal that was badly damaged, the earthquake of 1968 totally demolished what was left of the rest of the rabat,[dubious – discuss] including the landmark flanking walls with the semi-column decorations. Luckily, detailed monochrome photographs are available of the old flanking walls to document this landmark building and help with accurate restorations in the future.