Monuments of Merv : traditional buildings of the Karakum
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Monuments of Merv : traditional buildings of the Karakum
(Reports of the Research Committee of the Society of Antiquaries of London, no. 62)
Society of Antiquaries of London, c1999
Available at 4 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. 234-237) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Archaeological research and ancient records have been combined in this work to provide a comprehensive account of the buildings of Merv, an oasis city in the middle of the Turkmenistani desert. Founded in the sixth century BC, Merv was a key staging post along the Central Asian trade routes linking Europe and India, and its buildings - palaces, pavilions, gardens and towers springing from the sand - impressed all who visited it. Although eroded by time and weather, enough remains of these buildings to illustrate the evolution of architectural styles in the early medieval and Seljuk eras (7th to 13th cents AD), a period during which the Islamic world developed its own unique range of building types and decorative motifs. This book examines in detail each of the surviving buildings of Merv, discussing their form and function - from palaces to ice-houses, from fortified watch-towers to libraries and dovecotes. Details of doors, windows, corridors and stairways, monumental entrances, rooms, domes and vaults, niches, wall decoration and flooring are described and illustrated in great detail. The book will serve as a major resource for scholars of Islamic architecture.
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