Minaret · Jarqo‘rg‘on District

Jarqo‘rg‘on Minaret

A fired-brick minaret of 1108–1109 from the reign of Sultan Sanjar, now 21.6 m tall and unique for a shaft made of clustered half-columns.

Early Islamic1108–110930 min1 min read

Photo: Jonibek Qo'zimurodov · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

History

The minaret stands in the village of Minor in Jarqo‘rg‘on District, about seven kilometres from the district centre. It was built in 1108–1109 under the Seljuk Sultan Sanjar, and its inscriptions preserve the name of the architect, Ali ibn Muhammad of Sarakhs. A mosque once stood beside it but has not survived.

Researchers think it was originally much taller, perhaps around 40 m. Today it rises 21.6 m with a base diameter of 5.4 m, yet it is still visible from afar across the flat valley and remains one of the best-known landmarks of the Surkhan oasis.

Architecture

Its defining feature is a shaft built not as a smooth cylinder but of tightly clustered half-columns, giving it a ribbed, fluted look that is extremely rare among Central Asian minarets. The bricks are laid in herringbone and other geometric patterns.

At about 20 m a band of small brick arches carries Kufic inscriptions with Quranic verses. Though partly eroded over the centuries, the minaret preserves the refined brick decoration typical of the Seljuk era.

Did you know?

Under Sanjar, supreme Seljuk sultan from 1118 to 1157, many minarets were raised across Khorasan and Mawarannahr. Jarqo‘rg‘on stands out for its fluted shaft, almost without parallel in Central Asia, and it stood beside the ancient road from Termez up the valley to Chaghaniyan.