The next hall of the State Museum of Arts of Uzbekistan is devoted to the art of the early Middle Ages (5th – 8th centuries A D). On display here are two clay sculptures from the Buddhist temple from the settlement of Quva (Fergana region) and one of the scenes of the magnificent murals of the “Red Hall” from the palace of the rulers of Bukhara – the Bukhar Khudahs in Varakhsha.
In the late 1950 – mid 1960s, in the outskirts of the city of Quva, the remains of a house of worship dated to the 7th century were excavated. The work was carried out by the Institute of History and Archeology team, with V. A. Bulatova in charge, under the scientific supervision of Ya. G. Gulyamov. The team succeeded in uncovering the remains of a square hall (11.90 × 11.20 m), which the head of the excavations conventionally called the “sanctuary”, and a rectangular courtyard (21 × 14 m), named in the main publication as the “temple”. The “sanctuary” and the “temple” are located near each other and are united by a common facade facing south-east. Both of them and the facade were decorated with painted clay sculptures and wall paintings. In the rooms the statues were placed along the walls in special niches and on square platforms. In front of the facade was the iwan, the ceiling of which was designed to protect the picturesque and sculptural design of the entrance, which included clay statues of horsemen. In front of the sanctuary was a vast courtyard that could be accessed through the entrance of the temple complex, located in the south-east. This structure is called a three-part longitudinal-axial composition, whose equivalent is represented by the first Ak-Beshim Buddhist temple (Kyrgyzstan).
Despite the fact that the temple was destroyed and burnt, probably during the campaign of Arab warlord Qutaiba ibn Muslim against Fergana and Chach in 713, the sculpture found in it made it possible to conclude that a Buddhist temple functioned in Quva, richly decorated with multicoloured sculpture and painting according to the canons of this school. The expressiveness of the images, the variety of colours, the solemnity and the sacrament of rituals carried out by the light of the oil lamps and in the smoke of incense have always been a very effective way of attracting new followers to Buddhism. The Quvan sculpture also testifies to the fact that a branch of the doctrine that differs significantly from the early form of Buddhism was represented in this temple.
You can learn more about this topic in the book-album “The Collection of the State Museum of Arts of Uzbekistan” (Volume XIII) from the series “Cultural legacy of Uzbekistan in the world collections”.
The general sponsor of the project is the oilfield services company Eriell-Group.