🗿 Arab-Ata Mausoleum

The Arab-Ata Mausoleum is a cubical, domed brick mausoleum built in 977-78 in the village of Tim, Samarqand Region, Uzbekistan. Built during the Samanid Empire, the Arab-Ata Mausoleum was among the earliest buildings to include three notable features of Islamic architecture: the muqarnas, mihrab, and pishtaq. Following the appearance of the mihrab in the Arab-Ata mausoleum, mihrabs became a more common feature in mausoleums from the tenth century on. The Arab-Ata is the earliest dated example of a pishtaq, with it becoming a staple of Islamic architecture. It has been proposed that the pishtaq developed further with the many Seljuq domes from the eleventh and twelfth centuries.