The Ghurid Madrasa and Mausoleum of ShĀH-I Mashhad Ghur, Afghanistan

Abstract

Shāh-i Mashhad¹ is the name of twelfth-century archaeological remains located in the Murghab Valley of Bādghīs Province in north-western Afghanistan. This structure was an educational centre—a madrasa and a mausoleum—and is one of the best examples of architecture and structural decorative artwork of the Ghurid period. The structure was first published in 1971, not by architects or archaeologists but by two German ethnographers studying the region's nomadic community. Discussions on Shāh-i Mashhad in the context of Ghurid art have been published previously; this author looks at Shāh-i Mashhad in the context of the conservation of monuments, despite the fact that due to its remote location, Shāh-i Mashhad may not be subject to any conservation programme in the immediate future. Reflecting on its architectural scale, style, construction techniques, and details, in the context of potential work for the preservation and conservation of what remains, this paper studies and presents a virtual reconstruction of the building in an effort to understand the form, functions of the spaces, and related architectural ornamentation of the original construction. The reconstruction is based on the author's visit to the site in 1993 and transcriptions of inscriptions not previously read.

Keywords:

• Afghanistan
• archaeology
• cultural heritage
• Ghurid architecture
• madrasa
• mausoleum