Preservation of the Greater Kyz Kala at Ancient Merv

Overview & Synopsis

The Greater Kyz Kala, located outside the city walls, “is a monumental mudbrick köshk (a Khorasan word for castle or fortress), renowned for its massive scale and its tapering “corrugated” columnar walls rising from an earthen glacis. The massive walls of the Greater Kyz Kala still stand to a height of 15 meters. It measures 43 x 37 meters along the perimeter and the castle features 22 pentahedral half-columns on the long side and 18 on the short. The average thickness of the walls is more than (2 meters), with the walls narrowing as they rise. The Greater Kyz Kala is the largest and best preserved example of this unique building type to survive in the modern era, and one of the largest historic mudbrick buildings standing anywhere in the world.