Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
stories regarding these koshks but the most interesting refers to the Greater
Kyz Kala as the castle for girls and the Lesser Kyz Kala as the boys' castle
and reports that a boy wishing to marry a girl in the other castle should
fire a projectile to land in the greater castle (Brummel, 2005). In addition
to these, the Greater and Lesser Nagm Kalas to the north of Merv, Haram
Koshk to the north of Sultan Kala, Garam Koshk, Byash Parmak Koshk,
and Suli Koshk are other architectural monuments of this kind around
Merv (Herrmann, 1999).
FIGURE 8
Greater Kyz Kala with camels (www.flickr.com, Photo by David Stanley /
CCBY 2.0).
Retrieved
November
15,
2013
from
http://www.flickr.com/photos/
davidstanleytravel/5731116064/
It is known that the Arabs called these castle-mansions
kal'a
and es-
tablished quarters around them. But, despite the protective nature of these
mansions, it is identified that the nobles had two-story dwellings, with
the lower floor serving as the pantry and upper floor as the living space.
Narrow and multistory buildings, called
ding
in local terminology, used as
watch towers, are also found in Merv as in some other places in Central
Asia.
Al-Istahri, who in the 10th century praises Merv, shaped as an Islamic
city preserving the religious, social and commercial buildings in
shah-
ristan
(inner city), inside the walls, under Arab domination, mentions
three great mosques in the city. In the time of Caliph Al-Ma'mun (813-
833 A.D.), a palace and a military garrison was also established (Sayan,
1999). Madrassahs, established to study science and religion for higher
Search WWH ::
Custom Search