the Gumbad-i-Kabus ranks with the great buildings of the world Finally! On the 24th of April 1934, Robert Byron finally visits the Gunbad-i Qabus, in Gurgan. Why do I say finally? Right before having the chance to visit the tomb tower of Gurgan, on the 23rd of April 1934, Byron explains that “[i]t was Diez’s…
Tag: tomb tower
The simple tomb-tower of Chelebi Oghlu
an octagonal tomb-tower of the thirteenth century When Robert Byron is back to Sultaniyya, on the 12th April 1934, he does not only remember the first time he saw the Tomb of Uljaytu (that does not disappoint him, not even now that has visited many monuments), but visits other monuments, one of which is the…
The Gundab-i Bastam: finding inaccuracies in a description
The brickwork has a fine texture Sometimes it is clearly visible from Byron’s writing, that The Road to Oxiana is not a travelogue compiled during the journey. This is the case with the entry dated 9th of January 1934. Under that date, Byron reports his visit to two monuments of Bastam: the Mashhad-i Bayazid Bastami, and a…
Gunbad-i Chihil Dukhtaran
constructed of fine but loosely mortared café-au-lait brick On the 13th of November 1933, Robert Byron visited a bunch of monuments in the area of Damghan. One of these is the Gunbad-i Chihil Dukhtaran, that he records in his travelogue together with the other tomb tower he sees, the Gunbad-i Pir-i ‘Alamdar. Reading the…
Gunbad-i Surkh
Such classic, cubic perfection, so lyrical and yet so strong, reveals a new architectural world to the European. In Maragha, on the 17th of October 1933, Byron visits three monuments: the observatory, a cave with altars (not better identified), and, last but certainly not the least, the Gunbad-i Surkh. Robert Byron’s fascination for tomb…
Gunbad-i Qabud
built of plum-red brick […] transferred as it were from an English kitchen garden to the service of Koranic texts Robert Byron arrives in Maragha on the 16th of October 1933 where he visits and takes pictures of one of the three tombs that are to be found there: the Gundab-i Qabud. Byron himself recognizes the…
Gunbad-i ‘Ala al-Din
‘This one […] was tenanted by an opium fiend who looked up from cooking his lunch to tell us that it was his home and 3000 years old.’ On the 10th of October 1933, Byron records in his travel journal three monuments: two tomb towers, and one mosque. The first tomb tower he mentions is…
Tughril Tower
‘a fluted grave-tower […] whose lower part is Seljuk’ In his entry, dated October 10th 1933, Byron briefly mentions two funerary towers: the first, the Tughril Tower in Rayy, the second, a tomb tower in Varamin. The Tughril Tower, located in Rayy, is indeed a monumental construction built around 1140. It is weird Byron does…
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