Mausoleum of Isma’l
C. 907
The level of philosophical abstraction attained in the age of the Samanids also had a secondary impact on contemporary architecture , encouraging aesthetic solutions that covey in highly intel-lectualized forms the complex conceptions enlightened by faith that man can intuit though lucid Think king . This small-scale mausoleum was conceived as a quivering cube drenched in light due chiefly to the peculiar manner in which the bricks (standing for the earthly world) are coursed and crowned by a hemispherical cap (the infinite universe). Of solemn simplicity, intricate but limpid,combining grandeur with buoyancy and imposing though of modest proportions, the monument is of strikingly serene geometry .Bright and vibrant in its chromatic weft and weave, uncluttered yet inexhaustibly rich, its materials emerge from the apparent uniformity of four equal sides to make a noble statement of eternity . Freighted with historical and symbolical significance,the structure of the Zoroastrian fire temple is here defined through the ineluctable geometrical and mathematical definitions of al-Khwarizmi,al-Farghani , or lbn Sina,who confer on such illustrious and incontrovertible traditions the stamp of a truth acquired through mental alertness and an enquiring mind.