Mausoleum von Barda

Barda’s tomb tower was built by Ahmad ibn Ayyub al-Hafiz of Nakhchivan and, according to its building inscription, completed in 1322^1,2,6,7. Encyclopaedia Iranica calls him one of the best representatives of the Nakhchivan school of architecture, and the Presidential Library of Azerbaijan credits him and Ajami ibn Abi Bakr with a large part in creating the tower tombs of Azerbaijan^4,6. Who was buried here is not recorded; an official briefing in 2018 presumed a member of the Ilkhanid dynasty². The tomb stands inside an enclosure of defensive walls known as Torpaqqala². Its pattern of brick and tile repeats the word Allah, and the building is popularly called the “Allah-Allah” tomb².

The tomb was long neglected^1,2. A 1960s restoration changed its appearance: the inscriptions were erased, and a heavy concrete structure on top caused cracks². New work, which official accounts date to 2011 or 2012, was commissioned by the State Service for the Protection, Development and Restoration of Cultural Heritage and carried out by the Azerbarpa institute^2,5. The concrete dome was taken down, rebuilt and faced with glazed brick, using 427 m² of glazed elements, and the Throne Verse (Ayat al-Kursi) and the Kufic inscriptions were restored². A marble cenotaph was placed in the crypt and the Torpaqqala walls around the two-hectare site were restored; President Ilham Aliyev viewed the finished work on 25 March 2018².

The tomb has two levels: a crypt for the burial below ground, an arrangement the 2018 account calls typical of the period, and a memorial tower above^1,2. Outside, the tower has three parts, a stone plinth, a cylindrical brick body and a conical roof^1,2,7. Iranica gives a height of 14 m (as does Archnet) and a diameter of 10 m; the official accounts give 13 m and 10 m (2018) and a height of 12.5 m (2015)^1,2,6,7. Two portals, facing north and south, have muqarnas hoods, and Iranica singles out the northern one for its composition, play of light and shade and rich ornament^6,7.

From the plinth to the upper border the body is covered by a single composition of turquoise glazed tile and red brick in which the word Allah is repeated, written in Kufic according to Archnet^2,7. A broad frieze at the top of the body has a Qur’anic inscription in its central band, and inscriptions of the Throne Verse (Ayat al-Kursi) and in Kufic script were restored in 2012-2018^2,6. The Presidential Library of Azerbaijan compares the tomb with the Garabaghlar tomb in Nakhchivan, also of the early 14th century: there the Shahada, repeated in lozenges of glazed and plain brick, recalls Barda’s ornamental inscription, and the Library suggests that Ahmad ibn Ayyub may have built both³.

Inside, the chamber is ten-sided: shallow rectangular niches under slightly pointed arches are separated by pilasters, and three tiers of muqarnas squinches lead up to the inner dome^6,7. The crypt below, meant for the burial, has a cross-shaped plan^1,2,6. A stair leads down to it; since the 2012-2018 restoration the stair has been closed with a glass cover, and a marble cenotaph in the form of a chest stands in the crypt².