Minaret · 1108–1109
Jarkurgan Minaret
A brick minaret of 1108–1109 north of Termez, its shaft shaped as a bundle of slender fluted columns: an unusual and elegant monument of the Seljuk-Karakhanid era.
About
The minaret stands near the village of Minor in Jarkurgan district, about 35 kilometres north of Termez by road. An inscription dates it to 1108–1109 and names its builder, Ali ibn Muhammad of Sarakhs, an architect from Khorasan.
A minaret like no other
Most Central Asian minarets are smooth cylinders decorated with bands of patterned brick. Here the shaft is composed of sixteen half-columns pressed together, so that it reads as a bundle of fluted pillars rising from an octagonal base. At the top of the surviving shaft a band of brick ornament and a Kufic inscription run around the tower. The upper part, with its lantern, has been lost, and what remains is about 21 metres high.
Visiting
The minaret stands among village houses and fields; there is little else at the site, but the brickwork repays a close look, and the fluting catches the light beautifully in the late afternoon. It is an easy detour on the road between Termez and Denau or Boysun, so most travellers see it on the way north.
What to see
- The shaft of sixteen fluted half-columns
- The builder's inscription naming Ali ibn Muhammad of Sarakhs
- The ornamental band and Kufic script at the top
- Fine early 12th-century brickwork
Gallery
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