Middle Ages
Iron Pagoda of Kaifeng (1049): The Song Glazed-Brick Tower
A brick pagoda clad in brown glazed tiles replaced an earlier wooden tower and has survived nearly a thousand years of floods, earthquakes and war.
Region
Asia
Middle Ages
Byodo-in Phoenix Hall (1053): Fujiwara Splendour in Uji
The Fujiwara regent's Amida hall became the finest surviving building of the Heian period and an enduring symbol of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism.
Middle Ages
Nizam al-Mulk and the Nizamiyya Madrasas of the Seljuks
Nizam al-Mulk built a Persian-run administration for the Seljuks and a network of endowed madrasas that spread across the Islamic world.
Middle Ages
Wang Anshi's New Policies (1069): Reform in Song China
The New Policies raised state revenue and strengthened the army but split the Song elite into hostile factions whose struggles weakened the dynasty.
Middle Ages
Temple of Literature, Hanoi (1070): Vietnam's First University
The temple and its Imperial Academy became the centre of Confucian learning and examination culture in Vietnam for some seven centuries.
Middle Ages
Battle of Manzikert (1071): Byzantium's Defeat by the Seljuks
Seljuk victory and capture of Romanos IV; the Byzantine civil war that followed opened Anatolia to Turkish settlement.
Middle Ages
Omar Khayyam and the Jalali Calendar Reform (1079)
The Jalali calendar, a precise solar calendar beginning the year at the spring equinox, was adopted; its descendant is still used in Iran.
Middle Ages
Jameh Mosque of Isfahan: Seljuk Domes and the Four-Iwan Plan
The mosque became a model of Iranian mosque design, combining Seljuk domes with a four-iwan courtyard; it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Middle Ages
Su Song's Astronomical Clock Tower in Kaifeng (1088-1092)
A working water-powered astronomical clock about 12 metres tall, described in Su Song's illustrated treatise and later carried off by the Jurchen Jin in 1127.
Middle Ages
Shen Kuo's Dream Pool Essays (1088) and the Magnetic Compass
A wide-ranging notebook of observations that contains the earliest known clear description of the magnetic needle compass and of magnetic declination.
Middle Ages
Order of Assassins: Hasan-i Sabbah and Alamut Castle
The Nizari Ismailis held a state of mountain fortresses in Iran and Syria for over 160 years until the Mongols and Mamluks destroyed it.
Middle Ages
Ananda Temple at Bagan: King Kyansittha's Masterpiece
The Ananda became one of the most admired temples of the Pagan kingdom and a model for later Burmese temple architecture.