The title Po-i-Kalyan (also
Poi Kalyan), which means 'The foot of the Great',
belongs to the architectural complex located at the foot
of the great minaret Kalyan in Bukhara, Uzbekistan.
History
Kalyan Minaret that rises above the Bukhara city in the
form of a huge vertical pillar. The complex is located
at historic part of a town. Since 713 several ensembles
of main cathedral mosques were built at this area to the
south of the Ark citadel. One of these complexes, burnt
out by Genghis Khan during the siege of Bukhara, was
built in 1121 by the Karakhanid ruler Arslan-khan. The
Minaret Kalyan is the only of structures of Arslan-han
complex, which was kept safe during that siege.
Architectural features
The architect, whose name was simply Boko, entwined his
name (as well as the date of construction and the name
of Arslan-Khan) with epigraphic ornaments of the
Minaret. Local inhabitants believe that the architect
was buried somewhere among houses of the neighboring
residential quarter. Bako made a minaret in the form of
a circular-pillar brick tower, narrowing upwards, of 9
meters (29.53 feet) diameter at the bottom, 6 meters
(19.69 feet) overhead and 45.6 meters (149.61 feet)
high. There is a brick spiral staircase that twists up
inside around the pillar, leading to the landing in
sixteen-arched rotunda - skylight, which based on a
magnificent stalactite cornice (sharafa). |