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Mousallah Complex

Herat, Afghanistan

The Musalla complex (Pashto, Dari, lit. 'prayer complex'), also known as the Musallah complex or the Musalla of Gawhar Shah, is a former Islamic religious complex located in Herat, Afghanistan, containing examples of Timurid architecture. Much of the 15th-century complex is in ruins today, and the buildings that still stand are in need of restoration. The complex ruins consist of the five Musallah Minarets of Herat, the Mir Ali Sher Navai mausoleum, the Gawhar Shad Mausoleum, the ruins of the Gawhar Shad mosque, the Gawhar Shad madrasa complex, and the Sultan Husayn Bayqara madrasa and mausoleum complex. Construction of the complex began in 1417 under Queen Gawharshad, chief consort of Timurid ruler Shah Rukh, and ended in the late 1400s with the building of a madrassa by Sultan Husayn Bayqara. It was seriously damaged in 1885 during the Panjdeh incident, when the British and ruling Emir of Afghanistan demolished most of the complex buildings. Due to earthquakes and war, four additional minarets fell during the course of the 20th century.

Archaeological site data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).

Other archaeological sites in Afghanistan