Dark sights in Herat
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Gazar Gah
This shrine is one of Afghanistan's holiest sites, dedicated to the 11th-century saint and poet Khoja Abdullah Ansari. Run by Sufis from the Qadirriyah order, it receives hundred of pilgrims from across Afghanistan daily; Gazar Gah's name means 'the Bleaching Ground', a Sufi allusion to cleansing of one's soul before Allah.
The shrine is the most complete Timurid building in Herat and is dominated by its 30m high entrance portal, decorated with restraint with blue tiles on plain brick. More tiling fills the inside, much of it showing a distinctly Chinese influence - possibly a by-product of the embassies that Shah Rukh (who commissioned the shrine in 1425) exchanged with …
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Shahzada Abdullah
Two shrines sit on the main road just south of the Musalla Complex. Built in the late 15th century, they contain the tombs of two princes, Abdullah and Qasim, who died in the 8th century. Abdullah's tomb is the one nearer the road. The exteriors are plain fired brick with ogee portal arches, while the interiors are richly decorated with tiling - probably the best surviving tilework from medieval Herat. The deep reds and blues of the painted domed ceilings complement the tiles.
Even a couple of years ago, the tombs were clearly visible from the road, but they have now been largely obscured by Herat's construction boom. The tombs' guardians, who also tend the many pigeons o…
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