An evaluation of architectural monuments in Afghanistan as in the capital city, Kabul

Abstract

Afghanistan as a multi-cultural country witnesses a diversity of architectural styles influenced by many civilizations. Architecture in the Kabul city, the capital of Afghanistan, encompasses styles before emerging Islamic and after emerging Islamic religion. Considering the civilization influences, architecture styles in Afghanistan may be divided into three parts: Central Asia, Persian, and Indian. Kabul city is the meeting place of all these three styles. After the establishment of current Afghanistan in 1747, for the first time the evolution of architectural style in Kabul city as the capital occurred in 1880 which has been influenced by western architecture styles, and it has become the most famous style in the city. Basically, the architecture styles in Kabul city in relation to the civilization influences are characterized by Central Asian, Persian, Indian, and Western styles which have been reflected in most of the architectural monuments in the country. In this paper it is aimed to study the architectural evolution of the Kabul city by considering the civilization impacts through history, particularly before emerging Islam and after emerging Islam religion. The associated architectural monuments of each historical period in the city were studied based on its architectural style and related civilization. Furthermore, these impacts on shaping the current architectural style of the Kabul city have also been reviewed. This study is carried out mostly by reviewing the literature to highlight the architectural styles developed over the periods in Kabul city and the impact of cultural influences on them. As a case from each historical period, the monuments according to their historical importance, architecture style, and construction method are evaluated. As a mapping technique, Arc GIS 10.5 is used to visualize the distribution of architectural monuments within Kabul city.

Keywords

• kabul city
• monuments
• architectural style
• evolution
• western architecture
• islamic architecture