ELD 020 — Herat, Kutubchak Gate

• Collection Afghan Boundary Commission, photograph ABC 104: similar view.
• Owen, Charles (1884-86): Transcript of diary and letters, p. 252: “22 Jul [1885] Wednesday. Durand, Holdich and Peacocke went into Herat. […] Sent draftsman into Herat. […]”; letter to Mrs CW Owen (dated 22 Jul 1885), “[…] Ridgeway, Durand, Yate, Holdich, Peacocke and myself are here in a village outside Herat where we marched yesterday morning. Durand and the REs [Royal Engineers] have gone to the fortifications and we are busy with the thousand and one things which constitute our daily work. […]”; p. 256: “25 Jul [1885] Saturday. Had a good deal of work in Hosp. Durand, Holdich, Peacocke returned from Herat. Fortifications getting on. The workmen and troops are all delighted at earning a kran a day. The party met with nothing but respect, notwithstanding previous reports. […]”
• The Illustrated London News, Vol. 87 (1885/2), pp. 178-179: engraving based on a sketch by Captain Peacocke “General view of Herat looking south west.”
• The Graphic, Vol. 32 (1885/2), Aug. 15, p. 173: “The first view […] of the city” (see image), engraving based on a sketch by Sergeant Galindo shows a general view from the north-east.
• M.H.L. (1886): La Russie et l’Angleterre en Asie centrale, pp. 185-186: “Hérat, par sa structure même, se prête admirablement à la défense. Sa population est d’environ 30,000 âmes, et la ville a la forme d’un rectangle, presque d’un carré, puisqu’elle a 680 sagènes de long sur 600 sagènes de large. Six portes, situées à une altitude de 60 à 80 pieds au-dessus du niveau de la vallée, donnent accès dans la ville. Deux de ces portes, celle Bab-el-Mélik (porte du roi) et celle de Bab-el-Kouchk, sont de véritables merveilles d’architecture et peuvent soutenir facilement la comparaison avec les plus beaux monuments de l’Inde, dont elles rappellent le style et le caractère. […]”
• Stewart, C.E. (1886): The Herat valley and the Persian Border, pp. 146-148: description of the city of Herat and its surrounding on the occasion of the first visit by British officers.
• Peacocke, W (1887): Records of Intelligence Party ABC, Vol. 3, pp. 52-53 (Nov. 13, 1884) and 160 (May 9, 1885): description of old Herat; p. 407: description of Herat, p. 52: “The first appearance of this so-called fortress was disappointing, as, except in the magnitude of the extent of the enclosure, it appeared to be built little different from the ordinary mud forts of the country. The trace of the walls is rectangular and appeared to measure one and a quarter miles by one mile, the longer faces lying north and south. […] The walls appeared to be unbroken and in a good state of repair on the two faces visible. They are throughout of uniform height […] The north-western angle lies on ground somewhat (but very little) higher than the rest of the city, and the two walls converging there have the appearance of slightly running up hill. There are four gates in the walls (originally five, but the second gate in the north face is little used). […]”
• Ridgeway, J. W. (1887): The new Afghan frontier, p. 472: “[…] The population is poor and struggling, while Herat city is a mass of mud hovels, sheltering some 5.000 souls, exclusive of the garrison, and surrounded by an enormous earth rampart. Regarding the strategical merits of the place I shall, for obvious reasons, say nothing; nor about the fortifications, save that they were greatly strengthened during our stay.”
• Yate, A.C. (1887): Travels with the Afghan Boundary Commission, pp. 139-140: description of the four gates and its walls: “[…] and the eastern [gate is termed] Darwaza-i-Kushk. Each gate is flanked by two bastions, and the moat which encircles the city is bridged at each of the four gates by a wooden drawbridge, which is raised and lowered by mechanical appliances worked from inside the walls. The walls, which are some 25 to 30 feet high, and each face of which is furnished with 20 to 25 bastions […] are built on the top of an artificial embankment (locally termed khakriz), some 40 to 50 feet high. […]”
• Maitland, P.J. (1888): Diary of Major Maitland, p. 410: “Out early again, and went down the east side of the city to the Kushk gate. Gatework here, like the other gateworks, is being improved and prepared for guns; but the Afghans have no idea of any better protection than a 2 feet mud wall. […] This work is very open to fire from the south-east, and wants a big parados right across. Holdich and Peacocke spent much time here in putting up a profile, and trying to explain the beauty of a thick parapet and embrasures, versus an ordinary wall and portholes, like those in the sides of a ship, but I fear with little result. […]”
• Yate, C.E. (1888): Northern Afghanistan or Letters from the Afghan Boundary Commission, p. 21: “Captain Durand, during his visit to Herat, took some capital sketches of the place; and he, again, was followed by Captain Griesbach, who succeeded in taking several good photographs of both the city and its surroundings. […]”; pp. 25-42: detailed description of Herat and its antiquities; p. 27: “The eastern gate is known indifferently as the Kushk or Khush gate. It appears, though, from Ebn Haukel, that Khushk is the correct spelling, and that of the various gates mentioned by him, this is the only one that has in any way retained its ancient name.”
• Holdich, T. H. (1901): The Indian Borderland, f.p. 139: drawing of the northern gates of Herat; pp. 139-143: Yate’s description of Herat.
• General Staff, India (1914): Military Report on Afghanistan: “Plate 33 – The Kushk Gate on the north [sic! east] face of Herat.” Print of this lithograph.
• Niedermayer, O.; Diez, E. (1924): Afganistan, Plan 3: Plan von Herat.
• Adamec, L.W. (1975): Herat and north-western Afghanistan, pp. 160-179: Herat.
• Ball, W. (1981): Archaeological Gazetteer of Afghanistan, pp. 123-125: Herat.
• Fischer, K. (1982): Von Kunst, Krieg und “Kriegskunst” in Afghanistans Geschichte und Gegenwart, in: AFJ 9/4, p. 127: a reproduction of this sketch.

You know more about this picture?

Write to us!