Manar-i Bahram Shah
Ghazni, Afghanistan
The minaret of Bahram Shah is one of two monumental towers at Ghazni. It is located to the northeast of the modern city, in a ruin field that also contains a number of Ghaznavid tombs and palaces. An inscription on the minaret states that Bahram Shah, a Ghaznivid ruler who reigned from 1117-1153/511-547 AH, ordered its construction. 

The tower as it stands today only represents part of the original construction. The conical tin roof is a modern addition and shaft in the form of an eight-point star would have been the base for a second, likely cylindrical shaft, doubling the minaret's height. The facade of the remaining portion of the shaft is divided into rectangular fields featuring brickwork arranged in zig-zag patterns. At the top is a wide inscription in monumental Kufic script set within a wide band. 


Sources

Ball, Warwick. Archaeological Gazetteer of Afghanistan. Revised Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019.

Sourdel-Thomine, Janine. “Deux minarets d’époque seljoukide en Afghanistan.” Syria 30, no. 1–2 (1953): 108–36.






Location
Ghazni, Afghanistan
Images & Videos
Documents
Associated Names
Associated Collections
Events
1117-1153/511-547 AH
Style Periods
977-1186
Variant Names
منار بهرام شاه
Original
Manar-e Bahram Shah
Alternate transliteration
Building Usages
religious