ARCHITECTURE IN AFGHANISTAN

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 3
TANGLAO, JEO MAKY P.
GEOGRAPHICAL
AFGHANISTAN
GEOGRAPHICAL
AFGHANISTAN

Land of towering mountains and parched wastes where

living has never been easy. The narrow valleys of the Khyber
river was the only communication routes with India situated
in the North-West of the Indo Pakistan sub-continent, with
Iran on the West and Russia and Central Asia to the N.
Mainly a vast high plateau 6,000 to 12,600 ft. above sea
level.
GEOGRAPHICAL
AFGHANISTAN

Afghanistan is in the middle of Asia. The country is

landlocked and mountainous, and has most of the Hindu
Kush mountains. There are four major rivers in the country:
the Amu Darya, the Hari River, the Kabul River and the
Helmand River. The country also contains a number of
smaller rivers, lakes, and streams.

Highest and lowest

Lowest point: Amu Darya 258 m
Highest point: Noshaq 7,492 m
 RELIGION
AFGHANISTAN

Afghanistan is an Islamic republic where Islam is practiced by 85% of its

citizens. As high as 90% of the population follow Sunni Islam. According
to The World Factbook Sunni Muslims make between 84.7 - 89.7% of
population, Shia Muslims 10 - 15% and 0.3% others.

Abdul Rahman Mosque

Also known as Grand Mosque of Kabul  

is one of the largest mosques in Afghanistan.
 ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
AFGHANISTAN

Bamiyan, with its monasteries and temples.

is important, for its relationship to Persia and
Central Asia the huge group is carved out of a
sandstone cliff face, the interior honey combed
with sanctuaries and assembly halls extending
for nearly 2 km with a painted niche at either
end, each sheltering a vast Buddha statue,
hew n from the rock, the features modeled in
mud mixed with straw with a lime plaster finish
painted gilded.
s

Statue of Buddha, Bamiyan, Afghanistan

 ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
AFGHANISTAN

The Buddhas of Bamyan ) were two 6th-century monumental statues of Gautama Buddha
carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamyan valley in the Hazarajat region of central
Afghanistan, 230 kilometres (140 mi) northwest of Kabul at an elevation of 2,500 metres
(8,200 ft). Built in 507 CE (smaller) and 554 CE (larger), the statues represented the classic
blended style of Gandhara art. They were respectively 35 and 53 m (115 and 174 ft) tall.

s
Statue of Buddha, Bamiyan, Afghanistan
The statues were blown up and destroyed
in March 2001 by the Taliban, on orders
from leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, after
the Taliban government declared that they
were idols. An envoy visiting the United
States in the following weeks said that they
were destroyed in protest of international
aid exclusively reserved for statue
maintenance while Afghanistan was
experiencing famine, while the Afghan
Taliban Foreign Minister claimed that the
destruction was merely about carrying out
Islamic religious iconoclasm. International
opinion strongly condemned the destruction
of the Buddhas.

s
Bamiyan, Afghanistan
ARCHITECTURAL STRUCTURES

THE BLUE MOSQUE (MOUSOLEUM), Mazar-i-Sharif s

Within this period came the widespread
construction of the stupa, a key architectural
form of the early Buddhist period.

This structure developed from the original

earthen mounds built in north-eastern India
following the death of Buddha,

with the role of the structure progressing from

a commemorative reliquary to a place of
worship itself.

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Stupa excavated 35km from Kabul, Afghanistan
One of two surviving monuments in
Afghanistan from this period

and the two minarets at Ghazni are

often cited as the most exceptional
examples of this Islamic
architectural tradition.

With their height serving the

purpose of marking the site of a
religious structure, minarets almost
always accompanied a mosque,
and could either exist in connection
to it or freestanding.

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The 65-metre Ghorid Minaret at Jam
Thank you