Turkmenistan - Central Asia - page 384

Mausoleum¨of¨¨
Mohammed¨ibn¨Zeid¨ MAUSOLEUM
From the ticket office, continue east and
take your first left (north) to an early-
Islamic monument, the 12th-century Mau-
soleum of Mohammed ibn Zeid. Like the
other Sufi shrines (Gozli-Ata and Kubra),
this shrine is an important site for Sufi
pilgrims.
There's confusion as to who is actually
buried under the black marble cenotaph
in the centre of the cool, dark shrine. It's
definitely not Ibn Zeid, a prominent Shi-
ite teacher who died four centuries before
this tomb was built and is known to be
buried elsewhere.
Kyz¨Kala¨ FORTRESS
These two crumbling 7th-century koshk
(fortresses) outside the walls of Merv are
interesting for their 'petrified stockade'
walls, as writer Colin Thubron describes
them, composed of 'vast clay logs up-ended
side by side'.
They were constructed by the Sassanians
in the 7th century and were still in use by
Seljuq sultans, 600 years later, as function
rooms.
These are some of the most symbolic
and important structures in western Merv
archaeology and they have no analogies
anywhere else. Great Kyz Kala is now
fenced off, but you can clamber into and
explore the interior of Little¨Kyz¨Kala .
Mausoleums¨of¨¨
Two¨Askhab¨ MAUSOLEUM
One of the most important pilgrimage sites
in Turkmenistan are the mausoleums built
for two Islamic askhab (companions of the
Prophet), Al-Hakim ibn Amr al-Jafari and
Buraida ibn al-Huseib al-Islami.
The two squat buildings sit in front of
reconstructed Timurid aivans ( iwans ,
portals) that honour the tombs of the two
askhab . In front of the mausoleums is a
still-functioning water cistern.
Ice¨House¨ RUiN
South of Sultan Kala and Giaur Kala are
three ice houses built during the Timurid
era. The giant freezers, made from brick and
covered by a conical-shaped roof, were used
to keep meat and other foods frozen during
the summer.
The ice house closest to Giaur Kala is per-
haps the best-preserved structure.

1 Erk Kala
The oldest of the five Merv cities is Erk
Kala, an Achaemenid city thought to date
from the 6th century BC. Led by Alexan-
der the Great, the Macedonians conquered
it and renamed it Alexandria Margiana.
Under Parthian control (250 BC to AD
226) Zoroastrianism was the state religion
but Erk Kala was also home to Nestorian
Christians, Jews and Buddhists.
Today Erk Kala is a big earthen dough-
nut about 600m across. Deep trenches
have been dug into the ramparts by So-
viet archaeologists. The ramparts are 50m
high, and offer a bird's-eye view of the sur-
rounding savannah-like landscape. On the
ramparts it's easy to see small hills that
were once towers.
From this vantage point you can see
that Erk Kala forms part of the northern
section of another fortress - Giaur¨Kala ,
constructed during the 3rd century BC by
the Sassanians. The fortress walls are still
solid, with three gaps where gates once
were. The city was built on a Hellenistic
grid pattern; near the crossroads in the
middle of the site are the ruins of a 7th-
century mosque. At the eastern end of the
mosque is an 8m-deep water cistern that's
been dug into the ground.
In the southeastern corner of Giaur Kala
a distinct mound marks the site of a Bud-
dhist¨stupa and monastery, which was still
functioning in the early Islamic era. The
head of a Buddha statue was found here,
making Merv the westernmost point to
which Buddhism spread at its height. The
stupa has been recovered in earth to pre-
serve it, meaning there's nothing to see.

1 Sultan Kala
The greatest structure of medieval Cen-
tral Asia, Sultan Kala's sheer size would
have been unbelievable at the time of its
construction, visible as it was across the
steppe from almost 30km away.
Mausoleum¨of¨¨
Sultan¨Sanjar¨ MAUSOLEUM
The best remaining testimony to Seljuq
power at Merv is the 38m-high Mausoleum
of Sultan Sanjar, located in what was the
centre of Sultan Kala. The building was
restored with Turkish aid and rises dra-
matically in the open plain.