The most renowned building in the vicinity of Herat, fostered by the Timurid dynasty, is the hazira (open-air shrine complex) of the Hanbali traditionalist and Sufi poet Khwaja ‘Abdallah al-Ansari (d. 1089) at Gazurgah. After the 11th century, the tomb became a major Sunni pilgrimage centre and was widely venerated in Khorasan. Khwaja ‘Abdallah al-Ansari was also celebrated as the patron saint of Herat, known as Pir-i Herat or Pir-i Ansar. In Sufi circles, Herat had been also famous as ‘the little garden of Ansaris’.
Constructed during the reign of Shahrukh, more than three centuries after the death of al-Ansari, the shrine became an important part of Shahrukh’s venerating routine and every Thursday he paid his respect to the Khwaja and his descendants, who were buried in the main four-iwan courtyard. The only entrance to the shrine is through the western iwan; according to the inscription the renowned court architect Qawam al-Din Shirazi (d. 1438) completed the work in 1425. The sanctuary, i.e. the eastern iwan is 30 m high and is the most impressive part of the shrine providing a backdrop for the tomb of the Sufi poet. However, it does not have any other function or a dome chamber behind the screen wall. It is linked to the north and south iwans only by means of a curtain wall. This modified solution is unique to all existing four-iwan compounds, in which the axial iwans are usually interconnected with arcades. The niches and the iwans at Gazurgah are decorated with glazed and unglazed tilework in the banna’i (builder’s bond) or hazar baf (thousand-weave) technique.
Later during the rule of Sultan Husayn Bayqara, the site was used for several Timurid burials. There are two other structures at Gazurgah – the Namakdan, a two-storied twelve-sided garden pavilion with an octagonal interior dated to the 17th century, and a khanaqahfrom the late 15th century. In 2005 the shrine and the Namakdan were partially restored by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture.
