About some early Islamic buildings & their decoration

CHARLES K. WILKINSON

ONE OF THE GREATEST cities in the medieval Iran was Nishapur, located eastern province of Khurasan. Historical records attesting to its immense importance as a center of Islamic culture made it a logical and promising site for excavation.

Founded during the Sasanian dynasty (and given the name “new Shapur”), the city became the capital of the Tahirid dynasty in the ninth century and reached the height of its prosperity under the Samanids in the tenth century, when it served as the seat of the governor and commander in chief of the province.

Nishapur retained its importance under the Seljuqs, after its occupation by the first sultan of this Turkic dynasty in 1037.

It was sacked by the Ghuzz in 1153 and damage in a series of earthquakes in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, yet it remained an active urban center until its utter destruction by the Mongols in 1221.

This site was chosen by the members of the Iranian Expedition of the Metropolitan Museum-Walter Hauser. Joseph M. Upton, and Charles K. Wilkinson –because, in addition to the political significance ascribed to it by medieval writer, Nishapur was a flourishing center for the arts and crafts as well as for trade.

All of the design are relative to this book.