04/09/2025
History of Architecture in Afghanistan
The early people of Afghanistan, after leaving the cave, settled in the desert. To protect themselves, they started building houses with wood until they became wealthy and built houses from tar, cloth and animal fur. Often, they realized that the cloth houses were not safe due to lightning, attacks by wild animals and humans, so they built domed houses of stone, mud and wood. To protect themselves from the aforementioned factors. Thus, the period of building domed houses with doors, windows, and ventilation ducts began. The first architecture of houses was built by the Aryans on the banks of the Amu River, especially in Sogd and the city of Balkh. These houses were built at a time when the Silk Road was newly built and humanity shared the cultures and arts of one nation with other nations through trade. In this way, traders transferred tools, jewelry, and other objects and materials from one country to another. In fact, trade became a means of transferring cultures from one country to another.
According to the writings of Ms. Galia Pogochenko, the true architectural industry began with the establishment of Bactria in the cities of Balkh, Talatape, and Ai Khanum. Ms. Galia has studied the architectural industry of the Kushans in the regions of Nowbahar, the trays of Badakhshan, the Surkh Kotel of Bagram, the Hada of Fandoqistan, the masterpieces of the Middle Ages or the Islamic period in the areas of Balkh, Ghazni, Kandahar mosques, Herat minarets, madrasas, pilgrimages, and similar buildings, the masterpieces of the Timurid period in topics and locations such as the Goharshad school, the Gombadis, the Herat Citadel, the Ansari Shrine in Guzargah, the Khargerd school, the Janmard Qasab building, Balkh, Ghazni Citadel, the Mazar-e-Sharif shrine, the Mushasha era of Herat, the Mosalla Ikhlasiya street of the artists, and the artistic rise of the 15th century. The most important and glorious period of architecture in Afghanistan is the Bactrian Greek period. Greek architecture in Afghanistan began during the time of Alexander the Great and during the Seleucid period. This civilization lasted for hundreds of years, and its remaining works can generally be found in northern Afghanistan. In the construction of the Ai Khanum building in Takhar province, which was built during the Seleucid period, mostly raw brick and partly baked brick were used in the foundations.
The Western Greeks were inspired by the architectural wonders of Egypt, similarly the Romans were inspired by the Greeks, and finally Afghanistan has not only housed the works of the Baha'i Greeks, but also Islamic and Byzantine works, all of which were built in the same proportion, can be seen in Afghanistan.
Stones were used in the columns and capitals, and stone was also used in decorative objects. Among the remaining works, a stadium, a palace, and a theater with a capacity of 5,000 spectators can be mentioned. Since the people of ancient Balkh (Bactria) believed in Buddhism, they easily accepted the customs and philosophy of the Greeks, and as a result, the city of Ai Khanum was unhindered by the Seleucid Empire, which later turned into a prosperous and prosperous city. The engineering of the Kushan Empire was also influenced by Greek traditions and they created mixed buildings. In Sheberghan, there is a temple on a hill with a staircase built at the foot of it to commemorate their religion. This temple is about 55 meters long and 7 meters wide. Its signs are still present in the area.
At the beginning of the 1st century AD, the Gandhara civilization emerged, which includes eastern Afghanistan and Punjab. Among the remaining monuments are the Kajaki Dome, the Shiwaki Minaret and the Chakri Minaret.
Kabul had about one hundred thousand inhabitants in 1259. In 1155, Kabul had only ten thousand inhabitants when the capital of Afghanistan was moved from Kandahar to Kabul. Residential houses at that time were about 2 to 3 floors high, these houses were located in a four-walled enclosure. In these enclosures, there was only one entrance, in which metal carvings were occasionally seen. These alleys were intersected by ditches. People only protected the surroundings of their homes, workplaces, and mosques. They did not do anything else. There was no special attention to public spaces. Kabul engineering can be likened to internal engineering, because more attention was paid to the internal four-walled enclosure, meaning that attention was generally paid to a large courtyard and the facades were generally made of wood decorated with carvings and patterns. The internal order was much better than the external space of the house. When Abdur Rahman Khan became the emir in 1260, he decided to build his palace outside his four-walled courtyard. He named the place and built it on the north side of the Kabul River. Which was known as Shahr-e-Naw. Abdur Rahman Khan promoted a completely new style in Afghanistan. That is, external engineering that, in addition to previous buildings that paid more attention to the inside, also paid attention to the outside. The facades were equipped with gardens and fountains. Abdur Rahman Khan applied his own ideas and designs to the engineering department. Arched corridors, a type of Central Asian engineering, can be seen in his buildings. It is worth noting that Abdur Rahman Khan spent many years in exile in Bukhara before becoming emir. He consistently used square, simple, and single-story plans. These included a central dome, an octagonal public hall with square rooms, each corner of which was connected by columned corridors. The facades of the building were generally plastered with lime and plaster.
Amir Habibullah Khan (1280-1298) paid more attention to the style and engineering of British India. This type of engineering resembled military camps with sloping roofs. Sardar Nasrullah Khan, the second son of Abdur Rahman Khan, brought a major change in the engineering department of Afghanistan in the early 20th century.
Sardar Nasrullah Khan went to London in 1274 at the invitation of Queen Victoria of England. During his stay there, he stayed in an Italian Renaissance house. The plan of this house fascinated him greatly and when he returned to Kabul, he brought the plan of this house with him. He built a model of the house in his palace in Kabul, and named it Dheen-e-Amara. This was the beginning of the disappearance of traditional Islamic architecture in Afghanistan in the residential and administrative areas. Traditional Islamic architecture was limited to religious buildings only. Amir Amanullah Khan, the heir of Amir Habibullah Khan, like his uncle Sardar Nasrullah Khan, replaced European customs and traditions with Islamic architecture. He built a building called Ain-e-Amara. In addition, Amir Amanullah introduced other decorations related to the flame-like decorations that were popular in French Gothic architecture into Islamic architecture, such as the projection on the second floor and the wreath symbol above the gate. Like his great-grandfather, Amir Abdur Rahman Khan, Amanullah Khan embodied his own engineering. He built a city called Dar-ul-Aman, 9 kilometers from the new city. All these works were clearly seen as signs of progress and development.
The Berlin municipality was asked to send its engineers to Kabul. But their plans and designs were not accepted by the Shah. Later, the Shah turned to the newly arrived engineer M. Andre Godard, who had just arrived in Kabul with French archaeologists. Godard's plans and designs were accepted by the Shah.
The magnificent Dar-ul-Aman palace was built on top of a hill. From the top of the hill, buildings such as the Secretariat, the Municipality and other buildings related to the Shah's associates can be seen. In 1301, the first building law or Nizam-nameh was issued. In this Nizam-nameh, everyone was encouraged to build buildings. Land was given free of charge to those who built a house within a year according to building standards.
Another change of Amanullah Khan was to move the capital from Kabul to Paghman, which was located 20 kilometers away. At the entrance to Paghman, he built a building called the Taq Zafar to commemorate Afghanistan's independence. This arch was similar to the one located in Paris. Since then, all the Shah's relatives have also built houses similar to European houses in the outskirts of public squares and public gardens. In public squares, one can mention a mosque, an exhibition, a hospital, a library, a hotel, a tea house equipped with a place for performances and music. In the Nizam-e-Nameh, the building law was stated in such a way that not only should the houses be visible from the outside, but the houses should be built about 15 meters apart from each other and about 10 meters behind the entrance. In this regard, the whole area resembled a large garden.
A crowd of engineers from different countries such as France, Germany, Italy, Turkey, Austria and other countries flocked to Paghman. The workers worked under the supervision of Italian engineers such as Mario, Dugado, etc. Over time and with experience, they drew their own personal plans, which were later known as Memar Bashi. Memar Bashi drew the plans based on building images in European and American magazines. Even many members of the royal family became well-known Memar Bashi.
The changes of Nader Shah’s government regarding urban development are also visible. The aforementioned first transferred all royal properties to the public treasury. Later, the work of extending the city of Darul Aman was canceled and instead the city was moved from the southwest of Kabul to the northwest.
During the reign of Zahir Shah, when Shah Mahmud Khan, the Prime Minister of Afghanistan, failed to establish a strong relationship between the US and Afghan governments, he was dismissed from his post and Daoud Khan, the son of Zahir Shah’s uncle, became Prime Minister. When tensions arose between the US and Afghanistan, Daoud Khan tried to establish a relationship with the Soviet Union.
Soviet aid and cooperation continued from 1340-1371. Three decades of Soviet technical and professional aid and cooperation left a remarkable transformation in the engineering of Afghanistan. During their time in Afghanistan, the Russians built residential blocks, usually in Mazar-e-Sharif, Kabul and Sheberghan. The residential buildings of Makroyan 1, 2, 3, 4 equipped with hot and cold water, central heating and sewerage, were a great promise for coexistence. The residential blocks of Mazar-e-Sharif, Ghaziabad Farm, Hada and Samarkhail introduced a new way of life for Afghan workers.
