Dictionary of islamic architecture

Heraqlah
A square-shaped terrace-like structure with four corner
towers enclosed within a small circular moat and circular
wall.
This site is located in north-east Syria, 8 km west of
the city of Raqqa near the Euphrates. On historical
grounds this monument is reliably dated to the early
ninth century, probably between 806 and 808 CE.
The monument is almost entirely built out of stone
with the exception of the vaults and paving of the
central structure, which are baked brick. The circular
outer wall is supported by square buttresses at regular
intervals and has gates at the four cardinal points (i.e.
north, south, east and west). The entrances to the
central building are aligned with those of the outer
wall and each leads into a long vaulted hall. To the
left of each entrance is a long ramp which gives access
to the top of the monument. Although there are
structures in the centre of the building, excavations
have revealed that these cannot have been built as
rooms as they have no doors or other means of access.
Instead it is believed that the centre of the structure
would have been filled in with earth to provide a
monumental platform and that the structures must
have fulfilled some symbolic or functional purpose.
The whole complex has been convincingly
described as a victory monument to the Abbasid
caliph Harun al-Rashid to commemorate his victory
over the Byzantines at Herakleon. The size, date and
geometric design is comparable with other Abbasid
projects such as the octagon at Qadissiya and the
Round City of Baghdad.
Heraqlah, near Raqqa (after Touer)
hayr (ha
ir)

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111
See also:
Abbasids
Further reading:
F.Sarre and E.Herzfeld, 
Archäologische Reise im Euphrat und
Tigris,
Gebeit I, Berlin 1911, 161–3.
K.Touer, ‘Heraqlah: a unique victory monument of Harun
al-Rashid’, 
World Archaeology
14(3) : 1973.
Herat
City in north-west Afghanistan which became capital of
the Timurid Empire in the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries.
Herat has existed since ancient times and was
referred to in Greek as Aria. It was conquered by
the Arabs in the seventh century but does not seem
to have been fully subdued until the early eighth
century. In the tenth century it was described as
having four gates, a strong citadel and extensive
suburbs. In the twelfth and early thirteenth century
the city was developed by the Ghurids who
established the Great Mosque. The city suffered
under the Mongols in the thirteenth century
although it began to be redeveloped by the
fourteenth. In 1380 Timur entered Herat and later
expelled the local ruler, this was the beginning of
Herat’s greatest period which lasted until the Uzbek
conquest in 1508.
Timurid buildings in Herat include the Great
Mosque, the madrassa and tomb of Gauhar Shad,
the mausoleum of Sheikh Zadeh Abdallah and the
famous shrine of Gazur Gah. The Great Mosque was
established under the Ghurids in the twelfth century
and contains the tomb of the Ghurid ruler Sultan
Ghiyath al-Din. Although a few traces of twelfth-
century stucco decoration remain, the design of the
complex is mostly Timurid modified by more recent
renovations. The mosque is built on a four-iwan plan
with a central courtyard and an enlarged western
iwan flanked with twin minarets which serves as the
main prayer hall. The whole complex was decorated
with polychrome tiles but these have mostly
disappeared to be replaced by modern copies. The
madrassa and tomb of Gauhar Shad form part of a
large complex built around a musalla, or open air
prayer area, measuring 106 by 64 m. The inner court
had a two-storey arcade built around four iwans. The
mausoleum of Gauhar Shad has a cruciform plan
with the centre covered by a shallow convex dome
supported by a network of pendentives and semi-
domes. Above the inner dome there is a tall, ribbed
outer dome resting on a cylindrical collar and
covered with polychrome tiles on a blue background.
Opposite the tomb of Gauhar Shad is the tomb of
Sheikh Zadeh Abdallah which has a dome of similar
design. The building has an octagonal plan with an
large frontal iwan and side iwans added on to the
south, west and east sides. The most celebrated
building in Herat is the shrine of Gazur Gah
dedicated to an eleventh-century Sufi poet, Khwajeh
Abdallah Ansari. The complex is a high-walled
enclosure with a large iwan, above which is an arcade
of five arches capped with two domes. The brilliance
of the shrine is its original tiled decoration which
consists of square geometric panels, monumental
calligraphy and abstract designs.