Afghanistan, art and architecture - Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE
[Article]
Ball, Warwick
Leiden
Brill
(1,665 words)
Illustration 1. Mosque of Nuh Gunbad at Balkh: plan. Illustration 2. Mosque of Nuh Gunbad at Balkh: stucco decoration. Art and architecture in what is today Afghanistan has been distinguished by the development of a number of key Islamic building types. One of the earliest mosques in the eastern Iranian world is the late third/ninth-century mosque of Nuh Gunbad ("nine domes") outside Balkh (Illustrations 1 and 2). This structure is square and consists of eight equally spaced domes surrounding a ninth, central dome (effectively a chahār ṭāq in