Manar-i Jar Kurgan
Dzharkurgan, Uzbekistan
The Minaret of Jarkurgan is located in the village of Jarkurgan, twenty-six kilometers north of Termez in the Surkhandarya region of Uzbekistan. Designed by the architect Ali bin Muhammad Serakhsi, the brick construction was erected in 1108-1109 under Qarakhanid rule. Today the minaret consists of two sections, a cylindrical shaft and octagonal base, and reaches a height of roughly nineteen meters. As evidenced by the remaining edge at the summit of minaret, Serakhsi's original design most likely had a second shaft.

The minaret rests on a low octagonal base (socle) that is approximately five and a half meters wide, and is decorated with elongated pointed arch niches centered on each side. The base is separated from the shaft by a band of eight inscription panels. The shaft is ringed by sixteen engaged half columns decorated with herringbone bond. Crowning the shaft is a band of sixteen crescent arch niches followed by a circular inscription band.

Cohn-Wiener's photographs from 1924-1925 show heavy erosion of both the base and lower inscription panels, but the minaret has since been restored. Today the minaret stands within a space enclosed by a brick wall, and the octagonal platform upon which the minaret sits is depressed.

Sources
:

Albaum, Lazar Izrailevich. Herren der Steppe, plate 21, 53. Berlin: Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, 1976.

Cohn-Wiener, Ernst. Turan, Islamische Baukunst in Mittelasien, plate B, 46. Berlin: Ernst Wasmuth Verlag, 1930.

Hillenbrand, Robert. Islamic Architecture: Form, Function and Meaning, 148, 158, 164, 503. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2000.

Pugachenkova, Galina Anatol'evna. A Museum in the Open, plate 15. Tashkent: Izd-vo lit-ry i isskustva im, 1981.

Pugachenkova, Galina Anatol'evna. 2001. "Transoxiana and Khurasan, the Arrival of the Arabs," in "Urban Development and Architecture." UNESCO Collection of History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Online Edition. http://www.unesco.org/culture/asia/html_eng/chapitre4218/chapitre1.htm. [Accessed June 1, 2006; inaccessible November 13, 2013].

Schroeder, Eric. "The Seljuq Period." In A Survey of Persian Art: From the Prehistoric Times to the Present III, edited by Arthur Upham Pope and Phyllis Ackerman, 1027. Tehran: Soroush Press, 1938.

Website of Advantour. "Jarkurgan - Termez." http://www.advantour.com/uzbekistan/termez/jarkurgan.htm. [Accessed November 13, 2013].

Website of Culture.uz. "Architectural Monuments of Uzbekistan: Jarkurghan." http://culture.uz. [Accessed June 1, 2006; inaccessible November 13, 2013].

Website of UNESCO's Tashkent Office. "Historical Sights of Central Asia Photogallery." http://www.unesco.org.uz/album. [Accessed June 1, 2006; inaccessible November 13, 2013].
Location
26 km north of Termez in the Surkhandarya region, Dzharkurgan, Uzbekistan
Images & Videos
Associated Names
Events
1108-1109/502 AH
Style Periods
Variant Names
Minar-i Jar Kurgan
Variant
Manar-e Jar Kurgan
Variant
Building Usages
religious