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SdA 3-155 — Palais principal dans le bagh-e shahi

Vue générale du palais principal dans le bagh-e shahi (jardin royal), dans son état original, prise du sud, du balcon du bâtiment d’entrée au jardin. La construction rectangulaire repose sur un socle. Cinq fenêtres larges ceintrées regardent en direction du parc, surmontées d’arcades ; les deux arcades à l’angle du bâtiment sont aveugles. Une coupole couronne la partie centrale du bâtiment, avec une flèche portant un drapeau bougeant dans le vent. Le toit plat entourant la coupole est bordé d’une balustrade et des piliers structurant également la façade ; aux angles, ces piliers changent en tourelles. Dans l’allée bordée par des cyprès menant au perron du palais, deux hommes, un militaire et un civiliste. Au milieu du gazon entre les avenues droites du parc, des réverbères (à gaz ou électriques), entourés de pots de fleurs. A gauche, on voit le mur d’enceinte à arcades aveugles. A l’arrière-plan, les montagnes arides de la région de Jalalabad.
A noter particulièrement la symétrie de la prise, comme on peut la constater sur d’autres planches de cette série, notamment SdA 3-013 (ayn ul-emarat), 3-015 et 3-016 (zayn ul-emarat), et sur la planche SdA 3-166 (seraj ul-emarat) ainsi que sur SdA 3-177 (manzel bagh).
PARC ROYAL — DJELAL-ABAD
  • Souvenir d’Afghanistan, série 1 (petit format) : n’y figure pas.
  • Souvenir d'Afghanistan, série 2 (grand format), SdA 2-23 : identique - Sammlung R. Stuckert (194?), RS 363 : vue de plus près de l’entrée principale.
  • Sultan Mahomed Khan (1900) : The life of Abdur Rahman, Amir of Afghanistan, Vol. 2, p. 104 : «All my residential palaces are built on sites that command a beautiful view, and in a bright, breezy place. They are surrounded by gardens and flowers, and they are built in such a style that it is possible in the same building to have warm rooms for winter use, and open verandahs with large windows for the summer. The rooms are so arranged that the spring blossoms may be watched as they break from the trees, and the gorgeous yellow hues of the autumn, and the dazzling falls of the winter snow and the moonlight nights are enjoyed by all the inmates of my palaces who take the trouble to sit at theses windows.»
  • Imperial Gazetteer of India (1908) : Afghanistan and Nepal, p. 68 : «Two hundred yards from the west gate of the city is a palace belonging to the Amir, but now rarely occupied by him. It is a striking building, constructed about 1892, in a garden 200 yards square, surrounded by high walls. The palace measures about 135 by 144 feet, has large underground rooms for use in the hot season, and a wide veranda all round, from which a charming view is obtained of the valley and adjacent hills.»
  • Furon, R. (1926) : L’Afghanistan, photo identique, en face de p. 33 : «Djellalabad / le palais du Bagh-i-Shahi».
  • P. Sykes (1926) : Sir Mortimer Durand - a biography, chapter 16 : The Kabul Mission of 1893, pp. 205 : «We marched in this morning, and are most luxuriously accommodated in the Amir’s new palace - a fine square white building, with a domed centre room, surrounded by a walled garden, in which are tanks and fountains, and even a Turkish bath, which they have heated up for us.»
  • Jewett / Bell (1948) : An American Engineer in Afghanistan, p. 141 : le même bâtiment, vue de la même côté, dans son état original, «The old palace at Jalalabad, built by Abdur Rahman. Its inner walls were nine feet thick.» ; et p. 164 : «Koti Shahi, the old palace nearby which was built by Abdur Rahman, gives a much finer appearance than any of those erected by the present Amir. It is a fine brick structure, much better built, with heavy inner walls nine feet thick. A large dome crowning the center of the building is thirty-seven feet from the floor.»
  • Parr, D.J. (1975) : Architecture in Afghanistan, 1880-1929, pp. 107-109 et Fig. 76-84 : description du palais bagh-e shahi.
  • Dupree, N.H. (1977) : An historical guide to Afghanistan, p. 212 : «The ornate and graceful Bagh-i-Shahi (King’s Gardens) built by Amir Abdur Rahman (1880-1901) on the banks of the Kabul River which has endured constant renovation is occupied by the Governor and closed to the public.»
  • Dupree, N.H. (1977) : Early 20th Century Afghan Adaptations of European Architecture, p. 15 : «[…] The most consistently employed plan [of Abdur Rahman Khan] was a square, free-standing, one-storey structure on a plinth, consisting of a central, high-domed octagonal hall with square rooms on each corner connected by colonnaded verandahs. […]»
  • McChesney, R.D. (Ed., 2013) : The history of Afghanistan: Fayz Muhammad Katib Hazarah’s “Siraj al-tawarikh”, Vol. 3-1, p. 90 : «Also this year [1883], at the order of His Majesty, an enclosing wall was constructed around the Bagh-i Shahi in Jalalabad and over the course of some two to five years, through the expenditure of a large amount of money, the surrounding wall with rooms along the western side, a sublime royal palace, a domed entry gate, and rooms outside the gate were constructed, as will be related in due course – God willing. In 1305/1887-88, after laying out fragrant terraces, avenues, fountains, two large cistern-reservoirs on the east and west sides of the private royal palace, introducing a large canal, and planting orange, cypress and other trees, a marble inscription was mounted high on the entrance to the palace which stood facing the entry gate to the park on its southern side. […]» ; p. 221 : «During the previous events [March 1886], Brigadier ‘Abd al-Subhan Khan, an Indian engineer working for the government of Afghanistan, was assigned by His Majesty to Jalalabad to build a felicity-surrounding palace inside the Bagh-i Shahi of Jalalabad and to construct inner and outer chambers for it. Over the course of three years he completed the work, […]» ; p. 405 : «Also at this time, on the eighteenth of Rabi’ al-Sani/3 January 1888, His Majesty left [for Jalalabad …] Since the construction of the private quarters of the Bagh-i Shahi had not yet reached the requisite state of completion and was as yet unsuitable for the status and dignity of His Majesty, he stopped at the estate of (the late) Wazir Muhammad Akbar Khan, today known as the Bagh-i Kawkab, […]»
Image No.
SdA 3-155
Collection
Souvenir d’Afghanistan 1925-1927
Series
SdA 3/5 (double face, 1927) 153 à 181 : Jalalabad, etc.
Format
image : 134/200 mmplanche : 148/218 mmcouverture bleue ou verte
Quality
excellente ; noir et blanc
Place, date
Jalalabad, 190?
Descriptors
  • 0801. Jalalabad
  • 1.57 Pictures of Landscapes, Cities
  • 3.825 Representative / Administrative Buildings
  • 4.365 Abdur Rahman Khan (1880-1901)
  • 4.366 Emir Habibullah (1901-1919)
  • Latitude / Longitude34.436350 / 70.456730
    Google Earth34°26’07'' N / 70°27’24'' E / 575 m

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