By Turquoise Mountain
Kabul, Afghanistan
The Double Column Serai
The Double Column Serai is one of the finest buildings in Murad Khani. Once a great trading Serai, by the 1980s it was being used as a fruit market. And in the 1990s, the Serai had become a dilapidated storage space, with a small rubber shoe business working in one corner.
A photograph of the Caravan Serai in the pastTurquoise Mountain
Traders resting with their carriages and horses in a typical caravan serai.
The Double Coloumns before restoration (2006) by Turquoise MountainTurquoise Mountain
The Caravn Serai during restoration works (2007) by Turquoise MountainTurquoise Mountain
Conservation Work
The building has mid-19th century carved Himalayan cedar or deodar columns, with lotus leaf motifs, indicating the probable involvement of Kashmiri woodworkers. These columns were saved and conserved in the process of restoration.
Classic Carvings (2017) by Turquoise MountainTurquoise Mountain
Double Column during reconstruction (2007) by Turquoise MountainTurquoise Mountain
The Double Column Serai (2017) by Turquoise MountainTurquoise Mountain
A Modern Hub
Today, the building houses the Design Centre, the Ceramics School, and provides free space where graduates of the Turquoise Mountain Institute can set up their businesses for a year or two.
Details in Wood
When originally built, the building was composed of two storeys of nine wooden columns and had an elaborate wooden façade. Each column was carved from a single piece of deodar on a tulip base. Vines, acanthus leaves and roses were carved up the straight sides.
Classic Carvings (2017) by Turquoise MountainTurquoise Mountain
Turquoise Mountain Gift Shop (2017)Turquoise Mountain
The Turquoise Mountain gift shop is now housed in the ground floor of the restored building.
The Double Column Serai (2018) by Turquoise MountainTurquoise Mountain
Patayi screens, coloured tile niches, and Herati glass lamp shades decorating the entrance to the Double Column Serai.
