Gallery
Description
Property Name: Fakhr al-Din al-Razi Mausoleum
Inventory No: 993-322-4
Date of infill of the inventory form: 2009-08-18
Country (State party): Turkmenistan
Province: Dashoguz
Town: Kunya-Urgench
Geographic coordinates: 42° 18′ 16.08″ N
59° 8′ 44.71″ E
Historic Period: 12th century, 2nd half
Year of Construction: 1156-1172
Style:
Original Use: Mausoleum
Current Use: Mausoleum, Touristic
Architect: Unknown
Significance
Fakhr al-Din al-Razi Mausoleum also known as the II. Arslan mausoleum was built in the late 12th century between the years 1156-72. It is one of the earliest structures that survived in Kunya Urgench. The city was declared in World Heritage site by UNESCO in 2005.
Selection Criteria
ii. to exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design
iii. to bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared
State of Preservation
Some of the terracotta plaques are missing on the main facade. The ornaments of the cursory arc which is in the middle are totally missing and the space is filled with a brick wall as in the lateral niches. The mausoleum has been restored between 1979-1980 and also after the city Kunya-Urgench was declared in World Heritage site by UNESCO in 2005. At the restoration of the monument, besides cleaning a staircase with three steps is installed and the surrounding is arranged as well.
References
Sayan, Yüksel. Türkmenistan’daki mimari eserler: XI-XVI. Yüzyıl, Kültür Bakanlığı, Ankara, 1999.
Rossi-Osmida, Gabriele. Turkmenistan Environment, History, Monuments, Etnography and the Aral Sea, Centro Studi Ricerche Ligabue, Rome, Turkmenistan 1996
www.archnet.org