The Hindu : News / National : Buddhist stupa discovered in Andhra Pradesh's Krishna district

A hemispherical Buddhist stupa belonging to the Vajrayana period of Buddhism dating back to 6th and 7th Century A.D. was by chance unearthed by the Department of Archaeology of Andhra Pradesh last week following sighting of a large brick in the vicinity of a large mound in this village.

The 10-metre (diametre) main stupa is now in a dilapidated state, but is yet another Buddhist site to get added to the four major ones in the district. Due to tilling activity some of the outer structures like aramas and ayakas have vanished. Some of the sculptures, bearing a distinct resemblance to the Amaravathi School of sculpting designs, now adorn some common places of the villages as Hindu deities such as Jambala (Kubera).

Vintage temple

The villagers considered it a vintage temple of Lord Shiva in a barren land of about 1 acre on the village outskirts. The stupa with Ayaka pillars in a hemispherical shape was found adjacent to the Zilla Parishad High School. The village derives its name from Buddhist bikshus, whom the locals used to call ‘Munulu' (sages) and thus the name Munuluru which over the years turned into Munjuluru.

Additional Director of Archaeology and Museums K. Chitti Babu, who visited the site along with The Hindu team, said that the stupa belonged to the last phase of the Buddhism (Vajrayana Buddhism practised in Tibet and Mongolia).

He said the barren area, covering many acres close to the stupa, was littered with Buddhist cultural remains.

Conch shells

The archaeologist also collected a number of red and black pottery, including rims in different shapes and sizes. The black, red and scarlet buffed ware, along with conical shaped bowls with heaps of lime conch shells used for plastering during the construction of the stupa, were collected and recorded by Mr. Babu.

The stupa is built with bricks made of husk measuring 23 cm width, 7 cm height and 28 cm length — a typical Buddhist construction material of that period. One of the ayaka pillars, which is in octagonal shape, was perched on a square base. However, for the locals it is a dilapidated Shiva temple. The government will soon issue a notice seeking objections from the public to declaring the stupa a protected national monument.

Goharshad Mosque, a masterpiece of Islamic architecture - Tehran Times

Goharshad Mosque is a remarkable Islamic structure due to its age, architectural characteristics and rich tile decorations. Made of brick and plaster in the 15th century, it used to be served as a free standing mosque and currently serves as one of the prayer halls within the splendid Imam Reza Shrine Complex in Mashhad.

On the margins of the main veranda’s entrance, there is an old inscription carved by calligrapher Baysunqur Mirza.

This comprehensive deed of endowment suggests that the mosque was built when Shahrokh, the Timurid king, was on the throne. The construction started in 1418 by the order of Queen Goharshad, the wife of Shahrokh.

Goharshad Mosque in focus

It took about 12 years to be completed under the supervision of capable Iranian architect Ghavameddin Shirazi by the use of the architectural and decorative manpower supplied from the Iranian cities of Shiraz and Isfahan.

Covering an area of 9410 square meters, the mosque consists of a large azure dome, two 40-meter minarets, four verandas, a courtyard with seven big bedchambers, and a large altar made of a stony dado and mosaic faience shell.

Standing in the courtyard one can recognize the ensemble’s exuberant color and solidity among the tower-like minarets, merging with the outer corners of the portal screen extend to the ground together with the high foundation revetment of marble.

The entire court facade is faced with enamel brick and mosaic faience of the finest quality.

The entire surface of the minarets, walls and the surrounding colonnades are decorated with fine mosaic and glazed tiles produced in a variety of colors including ultramarine, turquoise, white, clear green, yellow, light yellow and ebony.

The lucid and vigorous patterns are artfully adapted to their decorative role, whether for eye-panels, or dome ornament meant to be effective at a thousand feet.

This is accomplished by the energy of the faience floral patterns and brick geometrical schemes; by the emphatic rhythm of the arcades, open galleries and deep recesses.

The northern veranda of the Goharshad Mosque or Dar al-Siyadeh, which has the shallowest veranda measuring 18x12 meters, was constructed with respect to the inscription on the portal in 1087 lunar hejira during the time of Suleiman Shah of Safavid Dynasty.

The interior design of the mosque

The eastern veranda measuring 7x1 meters and the western one measuring 1x3 have rich tile work decorations. The mosque has a broad courtyard measuring 56x51 square meters which has been restricted by verandas and colonnades.

The mosaic faience of the courtyard is covered by dark stone and the rest of the surface is decorated with tiles of flora, artistic and arabesque designs.

The main dome of the building constitutes two dissociated onion-like layers with short shaft and a hatchway diameter of 15 meters, circumference of 63 and thickness of 5.2 meters. The convex part of the dome’s shell is decorated with an inscription in Kufic script.

Moreover, the mosque has a public library holding a large number of books. There is also a museum which represents various handicrafts including a collection of carpets and gold-woven works donated to the holy shrine of Imam Reza. Most of the gold-woven works date back to 11th and 12th centuries. Among precious artifacts of this museum are the handwriting inscriptions by Ali Reza Abbasi, the renowned Safavid calligrapher and painter.

Renovations

The Goharshad Mosque was renovated several times when Shah Abbas, the powerful Safavid king, was on the throne. He contributed a lot to the restoration, construction and reconstruction of various religious and historic sites in the country. However, time marches on and the mosque was relatively ruined by a devastating earthquake happened in 1803.

It was time for Qajars to undertake required renovations in the early 19th century.

Another disaster happened by the 1911 Russian bombings resulted in severe damage to the mosque’s double layered dome.

Distinctive in its beauty and architecture, the Goharshad Mosque is still standing firm to host millions of pilgrims every year and maintain its position as one of the most magnificent mosques of Central Asia.

St John’s wall carvings get their golden shine back - timesofmalta.com

Restoration work on the atriums leading to the north and south side doorways of St John’s Co-Cathedral, in Valletta, adorned with beautiful 17th century wall carvings, has been completed.

St John’s Co-Cathedral curator Cynthia de Giorgio said the project consisted of the restoration of the dome and wall carvings that had sustained severe deterioration from the infiltration of rain water, causing the erosion of some of the carvings and the irreparable loss of gilding. The lower strata of the walls also sustained similar damage caused by rising damp. The carvings were found covered by a thick layer of dust and candle soot deposits, which accumulated over the years.

The first stage of the restoration process included the removal of the thick layer of dust and soot while a layer of linseed oil applied during the 20th century was removed using poultices of alkaline solutions, followed by the consolidation of the loose stone carvings and mortar joints. The walls were then prepared for regilding with 24 carat gold leaf, adopting the same gilding process used in the 17th century.

Restoration works began last January and were successfully carried out by the Maltese restoration firm ReCoop on the initiative of The St John’s Co-Cathedral Foundation.

The restoration of the two atriums follows that of the chapel of Aragon, Catalunia and Navarre, the chapel of Italy and the chapel of the Virgin of Philermos. Works on the chapel of Castille, Leon and Portugal will begin shortly.

Pakistan claim stops Christie’s auction of Buddha | Entertainment | DAWN.COM

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has claimed a fasting Buddha statue put up for auction by Christie with a starting price of $4.45 million and wants it back.

Dawn has learnt that at UNESCO’s intervention, the world famous fine arts auction house has stopped the planned auction and has asked the Pakistani authorities to prove their claim. Sources in the Capital Administration Development Division (CADD) a sharp-eyed UNESCO official in Paris raised alarm after seeing a Christie advertisement about the auction.

The advertisement described the grey schist figure of the emaciated Siddhartha, or ‘Fasting Buddha’, as the most fascinating 3rd/4th century Gandhara piece in Christie’s entire collection. It came to the auctioneer from a private collector who acquired it in Germany back in 1981.

The UNESCO official’s alertness, made Islamabad’s Department of Archaeology and Museums (DOAM) look deeper for Pakistan-origin artifacts that might have reached the auctioneer surreptitiously for sale.

Indeed search revealed 60 more relics of Gandhara period lying with Christie with price tags from $2,000 to $200,000.

A DOAM official called them Pakistan’s cultural property, excavated illegally from Buddhist sites in Gandhara region and smuggled out in early 1980s.

“We have checked all the sculptures on the (Christie) website. It is difficult to ascertain the authenticity and origin of all the sculptures from the photographs but some definitely look original. They can be certified only after physical and scientific examination.

“Nonetheless, it is quite clear that all artifacts belong to the ancient Gandhara region of Pakistan,” said the official.

Relief works, heads, busts, figures and stupa basis made up the collection. It includes a 3rd century grey schist relief of
Buddha, price tag $182,500; a 7th/8th century bronze figure of seated Buddha from Swat Valley, price tag $122,500; a 4th/5th century Gandhara large stucco head of Buddha, starting auction price of $80,500, and a 2nd/3rd century grey schist figure of a pensive Buddha for going price of $68,500.

Other pricey relics in the collection include a 2nd/3rd century grey schist relief of Buddha and another grey schist head of Buddha from the same period for $30,000. Several more had the price starting from $2,000 upwards.

Pakistan is demanding that these artifacts be returned to the country of origin under UNESCO convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property 1970. It obliges UNESCO to take appropriate steps to recover and return any cultural property to its country of origin at the request of a State Party.

Toby Unsik of the Communications Department of Christie, responding to a Dawn e-mail said: “We take our responsibilities in relation to the sale of cultural property very seriously and abide strictly by the laws in the countries in which we operate.

We have invited the Pakistan authorities to provide us with full details of the grounds for any concerns they may have in relation to the sale of this lot and await hearing from them.”

He declined to comment further until Christie heard from the Pakistan government.

If this collection does return to Pakistan, it will be the second time that the country gets back its cultural property. The first time was when the USA returned a lot of more than 40 relics in 2008-09.