Talk:Taq Kasra

Untitled

Well, i've done some research.

According to this page: http://www.archnet.org/library/sites/one-site.jsp?site_id=9021

It was the palace of Anushirvan Khusraw, 531-79AD, which makes it at least 1400+ years old. If you read a bit further, it mentions it being attributed by an ancient Sassanid chronicle to Shapur I, circa 241-72AD.

Even if this isn't correct information, it's still bloody old, and remarkable that an arch constructed so long ago could still be standing today, especially one of this size.

58.111.99.69 (talk) 12:00, 9 October 2008 (UTC)

Shape of arch

Is there any evidence that this really is a true catenary, or was intended to be a catenary? I have tried to fit catenaries and other simple curves (ellipse, parabola) to photographs of the arch, and the results I get are entirely inconclusive. 86.142.109.217 (talk) 02:03, 5 January 2010 (UTC).

It looks much closer to a catenary than any of the other basic arch shapes. Ethan Mitchell (talk) 21:40, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

Masonry Question

I am a stonemason. I have read about Taq-i Kisra many times, and how it's the largest arch every built without falsework. I want to be impressed, but I just don't see it. There's no way that mortar would hold a cantilever of that distance (imagine the moment just before the keystone row goes in!) And how do we _know_ they didn't use falsework? Ethan Mitchell (talk) 21:40, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

Because there is a lot of documentation of similar practices all through the Parthian period and also for the Byzantines, who picked up the technique from them. The Ummayads and Abbasids also continued the practice. The same principle is still used today to construct Catalan vaults in Spain and Mexico. And Nubian vaults in Upper Egypt and Sudan. Basically a very sticky mortar is used, and the bricks are inclined at an angle to allow fast adhesion. In constructions like the Taq-i Kisra it was a gypsum based mortar that set extremely quickly. Research "Slant brick" vaulting. The Basilica cistern in Istanbul was entirely vaulted using similar principles, albeit on a much smaller scale, and there are many other barrel vault like constructions from the Byzantine period.

Look at close pictures of the Taq-i Kisra and you will notice the square bricks vertically arranged in layers. Notice the distinctive shift in the brick courses starting from the springing line of the vault, also. There are Egyptian New Kingdom massive graineries also built without falsework using similar principles. 174.102.10.248 (talk) 04:31, 9 January 2018 (UTC)

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