Historical Monuments

of Uzbekistan
Tashkent • Samarkand • Bukhara • Khiva • Shahrisabz
In memory of father

We are born and learn to live in the architectural space, created by our
ancestors. Then taking the baton of generations we try to master and
rebuild this world, leaving it renewed to the next generation. Some-
thing from the past has to be destroyed... But the most important, per-
fect and precious to our memory stay untouched. We cherish it as our
fathers’ heritage and hand it down to our children. This is the “heart” of
our culture. We are all different and live far away from each other; we
have little chance to know other peoples’ values and see their hidden
worlds. That is why we travel. The goal of this book is to help you to get
oriented in the huge space of the culture of the historical monuments of
Uzbekistan. We hope that our readers will remember the images, appre-
ciate high art of their creators and understand why they are so dear to
us. As people use to say in the East: “If your heart is awake to Beauty’s
delight, you will acquire the goods that everybody needs. The whole
world will become your buyer”.

ДК 904 (575.1)
ББК 85.11 (5У)
А 792

Арапов А. В. Исторические памятники Узбекистана: Ташкент, Самарканд,

Бухара, Хива, Шахрисябз. — Ташкент: SMI-ASIA, 2014. — 136 с.

Иллюстрированный каталог архитектурных памятников главных исторических

центров Узбекистана: Ташкента, Самарканда, Бухары, Хивы и Шахрисябза. Содер-
жит современные цветные и старые черно-белые фотографии, карты городов, схе-
мы архитектурных ансамблей.

ISBN 978-9943-17-071-1

© Арапов А.В.
© SMI-ASIA, 2014
 ALEXEY ARAPOV

Historical Monuments
of Uzbekistan
Tashkent • Samarkand • Bukhara • Khiva • Shahrisabz

Tashkent • SMI-ASIA • 2014

UZBEKISTAN
The Republic of Uzbekistan is a young state in Central Asia
proclaimed its independence in 1991. The nulk of the coun-
try lies between the Amu-Darya and the Syr-Darya rivers,
which flow into the dried out remains of the Aral Sea. In the
6th–7th millennium B.C. people of an ancient European com-
munity settled in this land and in the 3rd millennium B.C.
parts of a eastern European community (Tohars and Turans).
In the 2nd millennium B.C. core tribes of the Indian-Iranian
community. An original civilization of farmers and nomads
settled down in the river oases, steppe and foothill pastures
that grew there in the Bronze Age. In the first millennium
B.C. the first big cities arose in these territories owing to the
development of caravan trade between China, India, the
2
Middle East and Europe. The historical events in the territory
of Uzbekistan had a crucial meaning for such world reli-
gions as Zoroastrianism, Buddhism (Mahayana), Christianity
(Nestorian) and Islam. Beginning from the 8th century the
area becomes one of the main historical and cultural cent-
ers of the Islamic East. Those great states, existed on the
land of Uzbekistan in the middle ages such as the Samanids
and Qarakhanids, Khorezm-shah and Chagatay, Temurids
and Sheybanids, Bukhara, Khiva and Kokand khanates left
an important trace in the history. The Memory of millennia
has been kept up to now in the unique architectural monu-
ments of the main historical cities of Uzbekistan: Tashkent,
Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva and Shahrisabz.
3
TASHKENT
Tashkent (41°17’N., 69°16’E) is the biggest city of Central Asia.
It is situated on western slopes of the Tien Shan in the val-
ley of the Chirchik river. The age of the City, which in the
past had names Shash, Chach and Binket,is around
2200 years. Originally the city arose on the Salar Canal
where today there is a railway station. Later the site of the
ancient settlement moved to the area of the present Old
City. In the 9th century a citadel was built there, and the city
was protected with a wall. In the Middle Ages Tashkent
became one of the most important centers of Muslim cul-
ture in Maverannahr. In the middle of the 16th century it was
the capital of anindependent province in thestate of Shey-
banids. In the early 17th – late18th centuries it was controlled
by Kazakh Sultans and then for short time by Djungar khan-
4
ate. In the 18th century Tashkent became the center of trade
with the Kokand, Bukhara and Khiva khanates.For few dec-
ades after Djungars had been defeated by Manjur army in
1756–1759, Tashkent fell under formal submission to China,
but under the ruler Yunus-Khadja(1784–1801) regained its
independence. In the beginning of the 19th century after
intensive military activity, the Kokand khanate annexed
Tashkent. After the Russian conquest in the 1860s Tashkent
gained the status of administrative center of Turkistan Gen-
eral-Governorship, in 1918 the capital of Turkistan Republic
and in 1930 the capital of the Uzbek Soviet Republic in the
structure of the USSR. Since 1991 Tashkent has been the
capital of the Independent Republic of Uzbekistan.
5
 CHACH, SHASH, BINKET, TASHKENT

Ancient Tashkent or Chach came into being in the 3rd–2nd

centuries B.C. as a trading and craft center at the crossroads
of the caravan routes. From the end of the 1st millennium
Chach was a part of the Kanghuy Confederation of Prince-
doms. The city was ruled by a dynasty of governors who
started to coin money with the name of “Chach” and a very
characteristic tamga in the 3rd–4th centuries. In the late 6th
and early 7th centuries the local dynasties lost their power
and Chach became a Turkic city. Areas in the middle reach-
es of the Syr-Darya including Ilak, where silver, gold, copper
and iron mines were developed, submitted to Turks. As the
Turks grew weaker Chach becamea dependency of the Chi-
nese Tang emperors, and in the 7th–8th centuries new
conquerors,the Arabs, came. When a Chinese expedition
invaded Chach in the middle of the 8th century, the towns-
people applied for help to the Muslims and the town
became a part of Arabic Caliphate. The Arabic name for the
6
town was ash-Shash. Caliphs taxed Shash heavily; 2/3 of the
taxes they received came from the richest silver mines in
Ilak. Under the Samanids the city was named Binket, and in
the 11th century under the Qarakhanids it was given the
name Tashkent. The town was almost completely destroyed
by Khorezm-shah Muhammad in 1210 and it had to be
rebuilt. The defensive walls with 12 gates were reconstruct-
ed under Amir Temur. The medieval image of Tashkent was
mainly completed under the Temurids and Sheybanids
when the most important mosques, madrasah and mauso-
leums were erected. In the 19th century there were more
than 20 thousands mud brick houses with small courtyards
inside the city wall. The whole town was divided into
4 large districts (daha). Their names have been preserved
even untiltoday. The eastern district, Shayhantaur, the
western,Kukcha, the northern, Sibzar, and the southern,
Beshagach.
7
 MAUSOLEUM OF ZAYN AD-DIN BOBO
One of the most esteemed Central
Asian Sufi monuments—the mausole-
um of Zayn ad-Din Bobo is situated
on a flat hill, deep in the Tashkent
cemetery of Vilayat. It was constructed
in the first half of the 16th century. It is
the burial place of sheikh Zayn ad-Din
Kui Arifani, the son of sheikh Shihab
ad-Din as-Sukhravardi who was a
head of Baghdad Sufis in the early 13th
century. Zayn ad-Din founded in Tash-
kent the first khanaka of the Sufi
school “Sukhravardiya“ which soon
extended all over Central Asia. Amir
Temur’s religious teacher Shams ad-
Din Kulyal belonged to this school.
Close to the mausoleum there is a
construction that is solely for prayer
during fasting time, a chillyakhana,
built in the 12th century. It consists of
underground and elevated domed
rooms with the holes on the top
arranged in such a way that the sun
rays can reach the cellar room only at
the time of the solstice. Probably that
was the place of school itself,Zayn ad-
Din bobo khanaka. The Sufis of that
school had a profound knowledge of
astronomy and studied the sky.
THE KAFFAl-SHASHI MAUSOLEUM
Abubekr Muhammad Kaffal Shashi
(903–976)—a famous scientist, expert
on the Koran and hadiths, and one of
the most respected Imams in the
Muslin world was born in the land of
Tashkent. According to historical infor-
mation he was a disciple of the Arabi-
an historian at-Tabari. Kaffal Shashi
became well-known in Baghdad for
his study of Islamic philosophy. At the
end of his life he came back to his
hometown Shash and when he died
he was buried in a northern part of
Shash. Sometime later people started
honoring Kaffal Shashi as a holy
patron of the town. Knowing the
respect the Muslims of Tashkent held
for the memory of the great Imam, in
1541–1542, under Sheybanids, there
was erected a high-domed mausole-
um over the grave of Kaffal Shashi.
The architect’s name was Gulyam
Huseyn. Some glazed bricks and
majolica from the 16th century have
been preserved in the decoration. In
the 20th century the first muftis of
Central Asian Department of Muslims,
Eshon and Ziya ad-Din Babakhanovs
were buried in this mausoleum.
9
 MADRASAH OF BARAK-KHAN

In the early 16th century the Temurids conceded their

authority to the Uzbek dynasty of Sheybanids. The founder
of the dynasty Sheybany-khan appointed his uncle Suyu-
nich-khan governor of Tashkent. Suyunich-khan was the
son of Mirzo Ulugbek’s daughter Rabiya Sultan-beghim. Lat-
er, one of Suyunich’s sons, Navruz Ahmad became the ruler
of Tashkent, known under the name Barak-khan. At the end
of his life in 1551–1555/56 he became King of the Sheybanid
Power. Suyunich-khan was buried in Tashkent near Kaffal-
Shashi mausoleum. In the 1550s the domed mausoleum
with khanaka was built above his grave, and one more
mausoleum (which we do not have information about) was
erected next to it. In the 1550s Barak-khan built there a
madrasah, so the two mausoleums became a part of its
building. It was a proper monument built by a son for his
father. As the dome of Suyunich mausoleum was covered
with blue glazed tiles they called it Kuk-Gumbaz (“blue
10
 dome“). A powerful earthquake in Tashkent destroyed the
“blue dome“ in 1868. In the Soviet period the madrasah was
closed and in 1943 it was given to the Central Asian Reli-
gious Department of Muslims. The madrasah was restored
between 1955 and 1963 with the participation of academi-
cian Usto Shirin Muradov. It was restored again during
2006–2007 as a part of general reconstruction of the Hast
Imam ensemble. In the course of the restoration the glazed
tiles from the 16th century were preserved. Some of the tiles
of the past had verses by the first rector (mudarris) of the
Barak-khan madrasah, an outstanding poet Zayn ad-Din
Vasifi (1485–1556), dedicated to Tashkent: “Oh, what a king-
dom! None of the lawns of paradise can be compared with
ancient Shash. And the one who settled here for good will
forever forget about paradise groves. Perhaps, to die in
Tashkent is better than to live a dragging life in another
place“.
 HAST IMAM
When the Kaffal-Shashi mausoleum
and the madrasah of Barak-khan were
built in the middle of the 16th century
in the northern part of Tashkent, the
memorial ensemble named Hazreti or
Hast Imam arose. In the 19th century
the Kokand khans gave a great gift to
the development of the ensemble.
Then Mirza Ahmed Kushbeghi built
the Mui Muborak madrasah and next
to it the Djuma-Mosque of Tillya-
sheikh to the east of the madrasah
Barak-khan. Near the Kaffal-Shashi
mausoleum,the Namazgoh mosque
was constructed. In the early 21st cen-
12
tury the Hazreti Imam ensemble got
its new architectural decoration with
the monumental east entrance com-
plex with minarets. To the north of it a
new building for the Uzbekistan Reli-
gious Department of Muslims was
constructed. The world famous Koran
of Caliph Osman is a priceless relic of
their library. It contains the original
text of the Koran, written down in the
7th century. It was kept in the treasure
houses of Caliphs in Medina, Damask
and Baghdad. Amir Temur brought it
to Maverannahr.
THE MADRASAH OF ABU-L-KASYM
In the southern part of the Old Tash-
kent near the Beshagach gate the
madrasah of Abu-l-Kasym-sheikh is
situated. Today it is located between
Navoiy National park and the building
of the Parliament (Oliy Majlis) of
Uzbekistan. This madrasah of a tradi-
tional type was built in the middle of
the 19th century when Tashkent was
under the authority of the Kokand
khanate. Originally the madrasah was
single-storied, the second floor was
added in the courtyard area. Its
dimensionsare as follows: 65×43 m,
and the courtyard 28×22 m. A part of
the architectural complex of the
madrasah is Mui Muborak khanaka.
The construction of the madrasah was
initiated by the famous public figure
ishan Abu-l-Kasym-sheikh (died in
1892). More than 150 students studied
at the madrasah annually. The famous
Uzbek writer Abdulla Kadyri studied at
the madrasah at the beginning of the
20th century. The monument was
restored in 1983. Presently the madra-
sah cells are workshops for popular
folk crafts.
14
SHEYHANTAHUR
One of the most historical places in Tashkent is situated to
the north of Navoiy Street. In the second half of the 15th
century there was a memorial, blessed by Khadja Ahrar, the
powerful leader of Sufi brotherhood “Nakshbandiya“. In this
place they erected the mausoleum of Khadja Ahrar’s uncle,
sheikh Hovendi Tahur or Sheyhantahur. The legend tells
about an ancient grove in this place which Iskander, the
two-horned (Alexander the Great) once blessed with a visit.
Inside the Sheyhantahur mausoleum there is the dry trunk
of the last tree from that grove. In the late 15th century,
beside the mausoleum of the sheikh there was constructed
the mausoleum of Yunus-khan,the grandfather of Zakhr ad-
Din Babur. Yunus-khan became famous as a conqueror of
the vast territories of Mongolia and East Turkistan.Tashkent
washis place of residence. A short time before his death he
settled in Sheyhantahur as a simple dervish. To the north of
the mausoleum of Sheikh Hovendi Tahur stands the mauso-
leum of Kaldirgach-biy. The name Kaldirgach (“a swallow“)
refers to a respected judge from duglat kin,Tole-biy (1663–
1756). There is information that in the place of Tole-biy’s
grave there was an earlier burial of Mongolian prince from
the Kipchak tribe. In the 19th century the ensemble Shey-
hantahur, besides the mausoleums of the ancient cemetery,
included four mosques, two madrasah, a minaret and
chillyakhana. It is known that two mosques were built with
the donations of two Tashkent merchants—Saidazim-bai
and Garib-bai.Since 1925 “Uzbekfilm“, the movie company
occupied the area and that was where the first Uzbek films
were produced. Sheyhantahur suffered seriouslyduring the
Tashkent earthquake of 1966. In the late 20th – early 21st cen-
turies the territory of Sheyhantahur became home to the
Tashkent Islamic University.
15
 DJUMA-MOSQUE
In the 15th–16th centuries when Tash-
kent gained the status of a great Cen-
tral Asian city and a new architectural
ensemble arose in its center. It is the
area of present-day Chorsu Square
and the Old City market. A monumen-
tal Friday mosque (the Djuma-
mosque) and the Khadja Ahrar madra-
sah were originally built here in the
middle of the 15th century. The con-
struction of these two buildings as
well as the Sheyhantahur mausoleum
are attributed to the activity of Khadja
Ahrar who came from a mountain vil-
lage called Bogustan near Tashkent. In
16
Tashkent he gained fame as an out-
standing Sufi sheikh. After that he
moved to Samarkand and became a
spiritual teacher for Temurid rulers.
The Djuma-mosque of Khadja Ahrar
was the main mosque in Tashkent for
centuries. It is rectangular in shape
with a large dome building at the
edge of the longitudinal axis, east-
west. The mosque was repeatedly
reconstructed between the 16th and
20th centuries. The madrasah of Khadja
Ahrar does not exist now. In the Soviet
period its bricks were used to repair
the Djuma-mosque.
 KUKELDASH MADRASAH
The Kukeldash madrasah was built in
the center of Old Tashkent during the
1560s. It was constructed on a high hill
by a Vizier (minister) of the Sheybanid
Sultans of Tashkent named Kukeldash
(the foster brother of a khan). The con-
struction was built at the edge of the
medieval shahristan and that is why it
was considerably raised above the
street which was at the same level
with the ancient moat. The madrasah
has a large yard which is surrounded
by hudjras with a classroom and a
mosque in the corners. The domes
over the mosque and the classrooms
were taken apart for bricks in 1830–
1831. In the 19th century the madrasah
was used by Kokand khans as a for-
tress and it is a known fact that in
1860 Tashkent rebels were fired on
from it. The top parapet of the
mosque was also used as an execu-
tion place; criminals were thrown from
it. The portal was seriously destroyed
by the earthquakes in 1866, 1868 and
1886. The portal of the madrasah was
restored in the 1950s–1960s and still
has some details of 16th century tile
work.
 ZANGHI-ATA

To the southeast of Tashkent, in Zanghi-ata village, in the

grounds of an ancient cemetery, there is an architectural
ensemble named Zanghi-ata. It was built in commemora-
tion of sheikh Ai-Khadja (died in 1258)—who was from an
Arabian clan who had dark complection—that gave his
nickname Zanghi-ata (from “zanghi“—dark skinned). Owing
to his father, Sheikh Tadj-Khadja, Zanghi-ata was the succes-
sor of Sufi tradition “Yassaviya“ formed by Khadja Ahmad
Yassavi. The sheikh lived and preached during the difficult
years of the Mongolian domination when Islam lost its sta-
tus as the state religion and Zanghi-ata had to act as a
defender of Muslim culture. The Zanghi-ata Mausoleum
was erected under Amir Temur in the end of the 14th centu-
ry. Then a refined gravestone was produced for it. A mourn-
ing mosque ziaratkhana with a festive portal was construct-
ed under Mirzo Ulugbek in the early 15th century. At the end

18
of the 18th century a madrasah was erected around the
courtyard. After a powerful earthquake in 1868 the monu-
ment was badly damaged and later was reconstructed. At
that time a memorial mosque with a wooden avian was
built. In theearly 20th centurya minaret with octahedral base
was constructedin the center. The minaret has a tile with a
very rare (for Muslin architectural tradition) symbol of a “lab-
yrinth“. Near the grave of the Sheikh there is the mausoleum
of his wife Ambar-bibi. She was previously the wife of a
poet mystic Suleyman Khakim-ata Bakyrgani, who was the
teacher of Zanghi-ata. When Sheikh Suleyman died, Ambar-
bibi married Zanghi-ata and they moved to Tashkent. In
local tradition the Holy Ambar-bibi is worshiped as a
patroness of fertility and motherhood. The grave tomb of
Ambar-bibi consists of two prismatic stones, incrusted with
majolica.

19
20
SAMARKAND
Samarkand is one of the most ancient cities of the world. It
is situated deep in Central Asian interfluves (39°40΄N 67°00´
E), in the oasis of the Zarafshan River. This is the only large
city of the world that history’s three greatest generals: Alex-
ander the Great, Chingiz-khan and Temur personally fought
to make it their own. The name of the city makes it relative
to the ancient Israeli capital Samaria (9th–1st centuries B.C.)
and the capital of Abbasid Caliphate Samarra (836–892). In
Sanskrit language “Samara“, as well as “hamar“ in Persian,
mean “a meeting place“. In the past Samarkand might have
been a special place where priests, heads and chiefs of the
local tribes gathered for performing sacred rituals, taking
decisions on peace and war. Later the town was founded
and got that name. When Marko Polo travelled there in the
13th century, the age of the town was already over
2000 years. The destiny of many outstanding figures of cul-
ture was connected with Samarkand: Omar Hayam and Mir-
zo Ulugbek, Khadja Ahrar and Abdurrahman Djami, Alisher
Navoiy and Zahir ad-Din Babur. Samarkand was the first
capital of the state of Samanids and in the 11th–13th centu-
ries it was the capital of Western Qarakhanids. Under Amir
Temur Samarkand was honored to be the capital of a world
kingdom, and under his grandson Ulugbek, it was a site for
astronomical observatory, known around the world. In
1924–1930 Samarkand was the capital of Uzbek Republic in
the structure of the USSR. Due to its architectural master-
pieces “the town of blue domes“ entered in UNESCO’s list of
the World Heritage.
21
 ANCIENT SAMARKAND

The ancient part of Samarkand, with the area of more than

200 hectares, is situated on a vast hilly plate, named after leg-
endary Turanian king Afrasiab. It was protected by river canal
in the north and east and deep ravines in the south. A town
settlement arose here in the 8th – early 7th centuries B.C. So
Samarkand has a 2750 years history substantiated by archeol-
ogy and is a coeval of ancient Rome. The ancient citadel of
Samarkand which dominates Afrasiab hills was probably that
very sacred fortress Kangdiz. According to the Book of Kings
“Shah-name“ and ancient Iranian tales it was built by the leg-
endary Siyavush. The Persian chronicles say that in Samarkand
the son of Siyavush king Kay-Hosrov created a miraculous fire
alter and built a holy temple around it. Later the founder of
Zoroastrianism, Zaratushtra, handed there his 1200 chapters of
a holy book of “Avesta“ written down on gold plates. In the
time of the Achaemenids the town became the capital of

22
Sogdiana. It was encircled with a massive wall which had
inside a corridor and towers. In the ancient chronicles the
town was mentioned as Marakanda, destroyed by Alexan-
der the Great. Zoroastrianists blamed Alexander for ruining
the ancient temples and holy books. Samarkand rose again
in the 4th–8th centuries when the Great Silk Road became an
important trade route. The Chinese chronicles of the 1st mil-
lennium call Samarkand “The Kang Kingdom“, which was
the strongest princedom in Sogd. In the 5th–7th centuries
Samarkand recognized the supremacy of Hephthalites and
Turks, in the 7th–8th centuries it was under the Chinese Tang
dynasty. Four lines of new walls were built around Samar-
kand in that period. There were built Zoroastrian, Buddhist
and Christian temples. The wall paintings in the royal palace
are still safe. In the 8th century Arabian troops headed by
Quteiba conquered Samarkand.
24
 SAMARKAND: 8th–13th CENTURIES
Having conquered Central Asian Interfluves, the Arabs
called it Maverannahr—“The land beyond the river“ that is
“behind the Amu-Darya“. In the middle of the 8th century
Omayyad’s yielded the Arabic Caliphate throne to the
Abbasids—to the descendants of the Prophet’s uncle al-
Abbas. The first Abbasids’ deputy was Abu Muslim. He mar-
ried a sister of a noble Samarkand citizen and made the
town his stronghold in Maverannahr. In 751–753 Abu Mus-
lim built a new wall for Samarkand with loopholes and
360 towers. It embraced an area 30 times larger than the
inner town (shahristan) on Afrasiab and included its south-
ern suburbs (rabad) with bazaars, mosques, bathhouses
and caravanserais. About 12 thousands households and cas-
tles came under protection of that wall.12 new gates were
built in the places where the roads cut the walls. In the 9th–
10th centuries Samarkand became a cultural center of the
Islamic East and the first capital of the Samanids. Ruins of
the Samanids’ palace with carved panels were found by
archeologists in the western sector of Afrasiab.Large scale
manufacturing of Chinese paper was developing and along
the Siab river there were built lots of workshops using water
mill energy. In the 11th–13th centuries Samarkand became
the capital of the western Qarakhanid state. The rulers’ pal-
ace was erected in the citadel. The tomb of Kusam-ibn-
Abbas became a cultic place where there was built a mau-
soleum. At the beginning of the 13th century Khorezm-shah
Muhammad captured Samarkand and built a new palace,
decorated with wall paintings instead of the Qarakhanids’.
However the state of Khorezm-shahs was soon conquered
by the Mongols. Chingiz-khan took Samarkand after a short
siege. The city suffered much due to Chingizids’ internal
wars in the second half of the 13th century. The ancient set-
tlement of Afrasiab was finally deserted.
25
 GUR-EMIR MAUSOLEUM

In the 14th century Samarkand rose in its southern suburb

(rabad). Amir Temur (1336–1405), the ruler of Western Cha-
gatay Ulus, made it his capital. The Great Temur formed a
huge empire from India to the Mediterranean. Samarkand
became a symbol of his new empire, where he started
unprecedented construction works. New architecture with
huge portals, high blue domes and refined majolica must
have competed against Eurasian capitals and meant the
birth of the Central Asian imperial style. Amir Temur died
before his grandiose Chinese campaign and was buried in
Gur-Emir Mausoleum. The mausoleum was built for Temur’s
grandson Muhammad-Sultan (1376–1403). The mother of
the young prince came from Chingizid kin and was a grand-
daughter of Uzbek-khan. At an early age Muhammad-Sultan
showed himself as a bright personality and was officiallyap-
pointed Amir Temur’s successor. Due to the tragic events

26
Temur’s successor died while his grandfather was the alive
and the grieving ruler decided to bury him in the center of
Samarkand. For a burial place he chose a complex with a
madrasah and a khanaka, named after Muhammad-Sultan
(only parts of the foundations are still there). At the south-
ern wall an underground stone crypt was built where the
young prince’s body was buried. Very soon Amir Temur
himself was laid there to rest. Later the remains of Seyid
Berke, Amir Temur’s spiritual teacher were also reburied
there. The octahedral mausoleum with a ribbed dome was
finished in the time of the rule of another of Temur’s grand-
sons, Mirzo Ulugbek. At that time there were built the east-
ern gallery and the southern funeral premises. It is still a
mystery exactly when anotherremarkable cleric—who is
considered to beSeyid Omar, son of Bukhara sheikh Amir
Kulyal—was buried in Gur-Emir.

27
TEMURID’S NECROPOLIS

The Gur-Emir underground crypt contains graves of three

more rulers along with Amir Temur and Muhammad-Sultan.
They are Temur’s son Miranshah (1366–1408) and Shahruh
(1377–1447), and his grandson Mirzo Ulugbek (1396–1449).
Miranshah was Temur’s third son whoat the age of 14 was
appointed by his father the governor of Khurasan. In the
1390s Miranshah received “the throne of Hulagu“, i.e.
became the governor of the southwestern Mongolian terri-
tories annexed by Temur’s empire. In 1408 Miranshah was
killed in a battle. Several years later his remains were
brought to Maverannahr and buried in Gur-Emir. Amir
Temur’s youngest son Shahruh was enthroned in Khurasan
and after his father’s death he became the supreme ruler of
the empire. He gave Maverannahr to his son Mirzo Ulugbek
who reigned there for over forty years being supported by
his father’s power. Shahruh died during a military campaign
and was buried in Herat. Ulugbek twice campaigned in
Khurasan and finally took Herat’s throne of his father. Then
Shahruh’s remains were reburied in Samarkand. In 1449
Ulugbek’s son Abdullatif rose against his father, dethroned
and killed him. Abdullatif was soon dethroned and the
remains of Ulugbek were buried in Gur-Emir. The arrange-
ment of the Temurid kings’ burials can be clearly seen in the
top room where the symbolic tombs stand. The tomb of
Sayid Berke occupies an honored upper place, Amir Temur’s
tomb is at his “feet“ and it is made of precious dark green
jade. To the east of it stands Muhammad Sultan’s tomb with
stalactite infringements. To the west of Temur’s tomb lie the
tombs of his sons Shahruh and Miranshah and to the
south—his grandson Mirzo Ulugbek. Right under these
decorative tombs, in the underground crypt there are the
burials and the grave tombs of these people. Amir Temur’s
remains lie in wooden coffin inside the marble sarcophagus.

29
THE RUHABAD MAUSOLEUM
According to the words of Arabian
traveler Ibn Battuta in the 1340s the
head of Muslims in Peking, which was
the capital of Mongolian Chinese
empire, was Central Asian sheikh
Byrhan ad-Din Sagarji. It is known that
the sheikh belonged to “Suhravardiya“
Sufi tradition and for some time
preached Islam in Eastern Turkistan.
Before Battuta met him in Sufi khana-
kas in India. When sheikh Sagarji died
his son Abu Said brought his body to
Samarkand, obeying his father’s last
will. He buried him close to the grave
30
of Samarkand sheikh Basir, who during
his lifetime had the highest status of
“kutb“ (“the pole“) in the Sufi hierarchy.
Abu Said stayed in Samarkand and
became one of the chief religious
tutors of Amir Temur. By the will of
Sahibkiran there was erected a mauso-
leum over the grave of sheikh Burhan
ad-Din Sagarji which got the name
Ruhabad—“the house of spirit“. The
existing dome of the mausoleum is an
inner dome. There was very likely an
outside dome, which might have been
ruined or never constructed.
МADRASAH AND MAUSOLEUM OF BIBI-KHANYM
The big madrasah built near the
cathedral mosque stood there till the
middle of the 18th century. It was
named Bibi-Khanym. That was the
name of Sarai-Mulk-Khanym, the
daughter of Kazan-khan from Chin-
gizids (1343–1346). When Amir Temur
married this woman he received the
honorable title of “Guragan“—“khan’s
son-in-law“. Originally the madrasah’s
portal was so large that it could com-
pete with the cathedral mosque. So
Temur ordered it to be reconstructed.
The madrasah was destroyedby Nodir-
shah’s troops in 1740. On the central
axis of madrasah there is the only pre-
served structure of a mausoleum
which is the tomb of Sarai-Mulk-Kha-
nym’s mother and two other women
from her family. This is a high octahe-
dral structure with a cylindrical drum
and Kufi inscriptions. The interior is
decorated with mosaics and vegeta-
tive ornaments including landscapes
of the Paradise garden. By the 20th
century the dome of the mausoleum
had been crushed so it had to be fully
restored.
31
 BIBI-KHANYM MOSQUE

The Amir Temur Mosque also named Bibi-Khanym was con-

structed as the cathedral mosque of Samarkand—i.e. the
main mosque of Temurid Power—in the early 15th century.
The best architects, artists and craftsmen from conquered
countries were involved in the construction of this grandiose
complex and continued working for five years. Indian ele-
phants were used for heavy lifting and transporting. When
Temur returned after his western campaign he was disap-
pointed with the scale of construction and ordered the recon-
struction of the portal. They made it 45 m. high with big
pylons and minarets flanking the arch up to 60 m. The bronze
gates installed at the front entrance produced a long musical
sound. Those unique gates were taken as trophies by the Ira-
nian Nodir-shah who invaded Samarkand in 1740. Then they
were returned and later melted down for coins. The large yard
of the mosque (129×99 m) was laid with marble stones. It was

32
for the thousands of believers coming for prayer. In the center
of the yard there was a pavilion for ritual ablutions. Now a
marble lectern for the huge Koran stands there. It was
made in the time of Ulugbek and decorated the interior of
the main building. The yard was fringed by an arch and
dome gallery placed on four hundred marble columns.
There are three constructions with domes on its axis—the
main mosque with a rostrum (minbar) for the imam in front
of the entrance portal and two small mosques on both
sides. The mosque was so gigantic that the brick design
could not bear its own weight and during the first decades
the mosque was collapsing little by little. The mosque of
the 15th century came down to us in the ruins of a powerful
entrance portal, three dome buildings and a minaret in the
corner. Conservation and partial restoration of the mosque
was completed in the late 19th-early to early 21st centuries.
 REGISTAN
Registan became the central square of
Samarkand in the 14th century. The
word “Registan“ can be translated as
“a sandy place“. Earlier there flowed a
canal forming sand and silt deposits.
The sacred Mausoleum of Imam
Muhammad ibn Djafar (9th–10th centu-
ry) was built here in the time of Sama-
nids, which explains the choice of the
place. Six streets crossed at Registan.
In the time of Temur, Registan was
connected with the citadel of Samar-
kand by a “Silver rows“ street. A dome
shopping mall, tim Tilpak-Furushon,
34
was built at the crossroad, on behalf
of Temur’s wife Tuman-aga. Under
Mirzo Ulugbek, Registan became the
main official city square where military
parades were held and the ruler’s
decrees announced. Ulugbek con-
structed a majestic madrasah and Sufi
khanaka with a huge dome. By the
17th century the old buildings of Reg-
istan were collapsing and the gover-
nor of Samarkand, Yalangtush-biy,
built Sher-Dor madrasah instead of
Ulugbek’s khanaka and later the Tillya-
Kari Madrasah.
 ULUGBEK MADRASAH
The Ulugbek Madrasah was built
between 1417 and 1420. Its huge
entrance portal is decorated with a
15 m. arch. A mosaic panel above the
arch depicts a symbolic sky with five
and ten-pointed stars. The Madrasah’s
size is 56×81 m. Inside there is an
open yard (30×40 m) with an octago-
nal hauz in the center. The madrasah
had a platform for astronomical
observations made before Ulugbek’s
observatory. The madrasah had fifty
cells for one hundred students. Sheikh
Khadja Ahrar and the poet Abdurrah-
man Djami were among the outstand-
ing graduates of the madrasah. In the
18th century the second floor and the
domes on the sides were dismantled.
By the 20th century most of mosaic
decoration on the facades had been
lost, so the outstanding monument
needed extensive restoration work. In
the 20th century the northeastern and
southeastern minarets were repaired,
new domes installed, the portal arch
and tympan restored.
35
 SHER-DOR MADRASAH
The Sher-Dor Madrasah was built
between 1619 and 1636 in the place of
Ulugbek’s khanaka which after two
hundred years had collapsed. It stands
like a mirror reflection of Ulugbek’s
madrasah. Ribbed domes on high
drums, placed on opposite sides of
the front portal tower over a two-sto-
ry façade. Probably the Ulugbek
madrasah had the same domes, but
time did not spare them. Islamic
inscriptions and vegetative ornaments
decorate the interior. The tympans of
the portal arch are especially interest-
ing. They were decorated with anthro-
36
pomorphic oval of the sun and a tiger
with lion’s mane attacking a fallow
deer. That gave it the name “Sher-
Dor“—“having tigers“. The picture had
been nearly lost by the middle of the
20th century but was restored again.
Thesignificant importance of Sher-Dor
Madrasah(former Ulugbek khanaka) is
the burial of Imam Muhammad ibn
Djafar Sadyk, which is in the south-
eastern corner of the façade (there is
no evidence of a connection between
this person and Shiite Imam Djafar as-
Sadyk).
TILLYA-KARI MADRASAH
In the middle of the 17th century the
cathedral mosque of Bibi Khanym lay
in ruins and Samarkand needed a new
mosque in its center. Yalangtush-biy
ordered its construction in Registan.
The mosque was expected to serve as
a madrasah too. It was under con-
struction for almost twenty years and
was finished in 1660. The gilding mass
on the dome, walls and mihrab was
more than on every other famous
buildings in Central Asia. Owing to
that the madrasah was called Tillya-
Kari which means “gilt“. The Mosque
of Yalangtush-biy is on the western
side of the madrasah’s yard. It is a large
domed hall, decorated with a high
entrance portal. Inside, opposite to
the entrance, the huge arch of the
mihrab is located. A sign of a “mystical
square“, surrounded by Koranic say-
ings focused the prayers’ concentra-
tion. To its right there is a minbar dec-
orated with marble steps. The dome
of the mosque was destroyed by an
earthquake in the early 19th century
and reconstructed in the 20th century.
37
AQ-SARAI MAUSOLEUM
Mausoleum Aq-Sarai (“White Palace“)
is situated to the south-east of the
Gur-Emir surrounded by apartment
houses. It got its name after the pal-
ace of Temur’s grandson and succes-
sor Muhammad Sultan. In the Turkic
tradition the main palace was called
Blue (Kuk), and the second—White
(Aq). It is believed to be the last
Samarkand Temurids’ male family
crypt built in 1460–1470 years, when
Gur-Emir exhausted its spaceplace for
dynastic members’ burials. Most likely
the person who ordered the mausole-
um to be built was Temurid ruler Abu
38
Said (1451–1468/9), who captured
Khurasan and moved the capital to
Herat in 1457.He was not buried there,
as he was killed in a battle in Azerbai-
jan. The mausoleum has an under-
ground octahedral crypt. In its eastern
wall there is a special niche containing
a decapitated person. According to
one version it is the grave of Ulug-
bek’s son Abdullatif (1449–1450). There
is a proposal that the tomb was built
in the beginning of the 15th century
and Muhammad-Sultan was tempo-
rary buried there while Gur-Emir was
under construction.
 ISHRATKHANA MAUSOLEUM
Ishratkhana Mausoleum was built near
Abdi-Darun Mazar to the south-east of
Samarkand’s Firuza gates, in the place
of the famous Temurid Garden Bagi-
Firuza This building has complex
architecture, dating back to the sec-
ond half of the 15thcentury. It suffered
greatly in its history, and was not
restored. The building has a big portal
and a high central hall, the dome of
which existed till the beginning of the
20th century. It contains a crypt with
twenty three female and children’s
tombs under the floor. Mosaics, wall
painting and plafonds decorate its
interior. Ishratkhana means “house of
enjoyment“ which expresses the idea
of an eternal home for heavenly life.
Some scientists suggest that Ishrat-
khana was originally one of Temurids’
country palaces. The mausoleum is a
necropolis for Temurid women and
children. A possible patronfor Ishrat-
khana might be Habiba Sultan-
begim—Abu Sa’id’s wife, who con-
structed the mausoleum for her
daughter Havend-Sultan-bika.
 HAZRET-HYZR MOSQUE
The mosque, named after Hazret-Hyzr,
a mythical Islamic saint and eternal
wanderer stands on the southern
slope of Afrasiab hill, at a crossroad
behind the central bazaar. A legend
says that Hazret-Hyzr helped the
patron of Samarkand Kusam-ibn-
Abbas to avoid death and become
immortal. Once, there was a Zoroastri-
an temple here with sculptures of
godsbroken in the first years of Islam.
The temple was converted into a
mosque. In the heyday of Afrasiab
there weredouble fortified southern
gates, receiving caravans from
40
Tokharistan, India and Iran. Over that
place there passed an ancient aque-
duct, bringing water to the town. Per-
haps due to the aqueduct there
appeared a cult associated with Haz-
ret-Hyzr, who according to a legend
became immortal after drinking water
of eternal life. Hazret-Hyzr is respected
as a saint who can grant wealth and
good luck in trade and travelling. The
present building was erected on the
medieval foundations in1854. Carved
ganch and colored paintings on the
ceiling decorate the interior.
MAUSOLEUM OF KHADJA DANIYAR
Mausoleum of Khadja Daniyar is situ-
ated on the northern slope of Afrasiab
hill near the old Samarkand wall. Near-
by, above the Siab river, there is an
underground curative source, coming
out of the rock. According to legends,
Khadja Daniyar was a companion of
Kusam-ibn-Abbas who was consid-
ered a relative of the Prophet and one
of the first Islamic preachers. The oth-
er legends associate Khadja Daniyar
with Koranic and Biblical prophet
Daniyar (Daniel). So, the Mazar is wor-
shipped as a holy place in the three
world religions: Islam, Christianity and
Judaism. Since the Prophet Daniyar
was buried in the Middle East, it is
assumed that the remains of the holy
person were brought here by Amir
Temur. A peculiar feature of Khadja
Daniyar cult is that the saint continues
to grow in his tomb. Owing to this the
tomb was periodically extended. The
dome mausoleum above the long
gravestone was built at the beginning
of the 20th century.
 SHAHI-ZINDA
The rise of the Shahi-Zinda necropolis
is connected with Kusam ibn Abbas,
the Prophet’s cousin who had a
strong resemblance with him. There
has survived a quotation (habit), over
a carved door of Shahi-Zinda: “Said
the Prophet..: Al-Kusamibn al-Abbas,
more than others resembles me in
face and character“. Kusam ibn Abbas
took part in the first Arab campaigns
to Maverannahr. According to a leg-
end, Kusam was mortally wounded at
the Samarkand walls and hid under-
ground where he continues to live.
42
That gave the name for the necropo-
lis—Shahi-Zinda—“alive king“. It is like-
ly that the cult of “eternally living
king“—the patron saint of Samarkand,
has a more ancient pre-Islamic origin,
subsumed about a thousand years
ago under the worshiping of Kusam
ibn Abbas. By the 10th–11th centuries
Kusam was considered a martyr and
gained the status of an Islamic saint. In
the 12th–15th centuries there was con-
structed a complex of mausoleums
and mosques along the path leading
to his supposed grave.
 MAUSOLEUM OF KUSAM IBN ABBAS
The base of Kusam ibn Abbas mauso-
leum consists of constructions dated
to the 11th century. First of all it is a
small dome tomb. The ceramic
stepped gravestone which was
installed during Amir Temur’s time in
the 1480s, occupies almost half of its
area. The third step was decorated
with citation from the Koran explain-
ing the name of the necropolis: “Nev-
er consider dead those who were
killed on the way of Allah. No, they are
alive“. Scientific surveys of the tombs
have revealed a grave of a man of
mature age, dating back to the 11th–
12th centuries. Nearby there are the
remains of burials from the 10th–11th
centuries. At least a few centuries sep-
arate the time of these burials with
the time of Kusam ibn Abbas’s death.
The names of the persons and reasons
for their burial in such an honored
place remain a secret. Near the tomb
there is a big memorial room with a
mihrab in the western wall. There is a
room for forty-day sole prayer made
under its floor. A small minaret of the
11th century is situated at the entrance.
43
 NORTHERN GROUP
After the Mongols conquered Samar-
kand, Shahi-Zinda memorial, which
arose around the mausoleum of
Kusam ibn Abbas, was abandoned. It
began to revive in the second quarter
of the 14thcentury as a suburban Mus-
lim shrine alongside of the new city,
on the site of rabad. Then Shahi-Zinda
ensemble developed chronologically
from north to south. Khadja-Ahmad
mausoleum was erected in the 1340s
at the top of the northern part of the
memorial. It blocked the track along
the main axis of the necropolis. The
inscription on the mausoleum says: “...
44
may Allah prolong their eternity to
make a tomb a garden of happiness
for Khadja-Ahmad“. In 1361 a mausole-
um was built next to it for a highborn
married woman. Both mausoleums
were decorated with carved glazed
terracotta of bluish-green, and ash-
blue colors. At the beginning of the
15th century on the west side of the
same platform, there was built a mau-
soleum and a mosque on behalf of
Tuman-aga, Temur’s younger wife. The
portal of the mausoleum is covered
with blue cashin mosaics.
 CENTRAL GROUP
A group of new mausoleums arose in
Shahi-Zinda in the 1380s–1390s. They
were built on the place of Qarakha-
nids’ madrasah (11th century). Some of
them were saved. These are two
nameless mausoleums, Amir Burun-
duk Mausoleum, a mausoleum built
by usto (master) Alim Nesefi. Amir
Burunduk Mausoleum has only an
internal dome on a 16-angled drum.
The first nameless mausoleum pre-
served a portal with a citation: “earthly
life is a burden to people, and people
are a burden to the earth.“ The mauso-
leum made by Alim Nesefi is decorat-
ed with relief majolica. Expressive
eight-pointed stars are a characteristic
feature of its facade. The central star
shows the names of twelve Shiite
imams. The lower one contains Koran-
ic text “Throne“. Between the “stars“ is
the text: “This world is joy for the peo-
ple of sin, the future world is bitter for
those who are committed to this
world, and both of these worlds are a
joy for Godly people.“ Located on the
south east of the main track, an octag-
onal mausoleum was built by Ulugbek
in 1430–40s.
45
TEMURID MAUSOLEUMS
In the time of Amir Temur, among the
mausoleums of Shahi-Zinda there was
built a necropolis for the women of
his family. When in 1372 Shadi-Mulk
died (the daughter of Temur’s elder
sister Kutlug-Turkan-aga) a mausole-
um with a ridge dome and a beautiful
portal, trimmed with carved majolica
was erected at the old wall. Kutlug-
Turkan-aga died in 1383 and was bur-
ied in the same mausoleum. When
Temur’s younger sister, Shirin-bek-aga,
died in 1386 there was built for her
the most refined mausoleum. Its por-
tal was decorated with inlaid sap-
46
phire-blue cashin mosaics. It also has
quotations from Socrates. Among oth-
er moral teachings there is a quote:
“Indeed people in this world are like
birds rejoicing ... and this world is like a
snare with bait placed in it“. One of
Amir Temur’s confidants Amir Hussein
built a mausoleum for his mother Tug-
lu-Tekin next to these mausoleums. In
that period there also was erected the
mausoleum of Amir-Zade. The portals
of these mausoleums were decorated
with carved glazed terracotta and
painted majolica.
 SOUTH GROUP
When Temur’s grandson Mirzo Ulug-
bek was the ruler of Maverannahr,
Shahi-Zinda ensemble was construct-
ed downwards from the brink of the
old wall. The two-dome mausoleum
was built in that period. According to
some sources, it belonged to Uldja-
Inaga, Amir Temur’s nurse (before the
survey, researchers thought it was the
mausoleum of the astronomer Qazi-
Zade Rumi). The mausoleum is famous
for its legendary stairway. The number
of its steps could be counted correctly
only by a truly believing person. In the
1430s, at the bottom of the wall, Ulug-
bek built a front entrance. It has the
inscription: “... founded by Abd al-
Aziz..., son of Ulugbek... in
838(1434/1435)“. The mosque and aux-
iliary premises on both sides of the
chartak were built later. In the 19thcen-
tury the khakim of Samarkand Davlet
Kushbeghi constructed a small madra-
sah at the entrance and a summer
mosque opposite to it. The remains of
a medieval bathhouse were found
during restoration work in Shahi-Zinda
at the beginning of the 21th century.
47
 OBSERVATORY OF ULUGBEK
The biggest astronomical observato-
ry of the time was built in Samarkand
under Mirzo Ulugbek in the 1420s.
Here, the great astronomers Qazi-
Zade Rumi, Djemshid Giyas al-Din
Kashi and Ali Kushchi studied the
skies. For three decades high-preci-
sion measurements of the motion of
celestial bodies were conducted.
Samarkand observatory became
famous owing to the book “Zidj of
Ulugbek“. This work contains a theo-
retical introduction and a catalog of
1018 stars. European scientists knew
about the observatory in 1648 after
48
the publication of “Zidj“ at Oxford. In
the late Middle Ages, the observatory
was destroyed and deserted. The
observatory was discovered by
archaeologist V. Vyatkin at the begin-
ning of 20th century. The structure
had the form of a cylinder with a
diameter of about 46 m. and was
30 m. high. Under the ground they
excavated the remains of the basic
instrument of the observatory—a
giant (40 m. radius and 63 m. long)
quadrant arc. It was used for measur-
ing the movement of the Sun, Moon
and other bodies.
DAKHMA OF SHEYBANIDS
The Chingizid dynasty of the Sheyban-
ids reigned in Samarkand in the 16th
century. Trying to surpass the Temu-
rids, Sheybanids built several major
madrasah in the centre of Samarkand.
The first, Aliya madrasah was built to
the north-east of Registan, on the
orders of the founder of the dynasty
Sheybani-khan. Haniya madrasah was
built opposite to it. Under
Kuchkunchi-khan, Abu-Said-khan
madrasah was constructed to the
south of Registan. Time did not spare
the Sheybanid’s buildings. Only the
funeral dakhma of the Sheybanids has
survived. This elevated structure,
faced with marble is situated between
Tillya-Kari and Sher-Dor. In 1510 in the
dakhma of the Alia madrasah Sheyba-
ni-khan was entombed. Then other
Sheybanids were also buried there.
Dakhma was moved several times and
got to its present location in the twen-
tieth century. It preserved the tombs
of the Sheybanid sultans: Mahmud
(died in1503–1504), Mahdi and Hamza
(died in 1511) Kutlug Muhammad (died
in 1545) Abdulhair (died in 1517), Edgar
(died in 1523), Suyung Muhammad
(died in 1586).
49
KHADJA AHRAR NECROPOLIS
Sheikh Khadja Ahrar (1404–1490)
headed the Central Asian branch of
the Sufi order “Naqshbandiyyah“ in
the middle of the15th century. He
directly influenced the political life of
the Temurids due to his great spiritual
power. Samarkand ruler Ahmad-mirza,
the ruler of Ferghana, Omar Sheikh,
and the great poets Djami and Navoi
were among sheikh’s murids. Djami
wrote that “with his holy power, both
externally and spiritually, he held peo-
ple in subjugation.“ Almost forty years
of Khadja Ahrar‘s life was connected
50
with Samarkand. The great sheikh was
buried in the south-eastern suburb of
Samarkand and a sacred cemetery
was built in the 16th century. For the
group of burials around Khadja Ahrar’s
there was constructed a special
dakhma andnearby column aivans
and halls of mosques built in different
periods. In the 17th century Nadir
Muhammad Divan-beghi—a rich
Bukhara dignitary constructed there a
mosque and madrasah on the portal
of which there were pictured tigers
like the ones in Sher-Dor.
 MEMORIAL COMPLEX OF IMAM AL-BUKHARI
The necropolis of outstanding Sunni
theologian Imam Muhammad al-
Bukhari was built near Samarkand.
With his phenomenal memory, al-
Bukhari spent his life studying had-
iths—the stories about the Prophet.
Having performed the hajj in his
youth, al-Bukhari stayed in Hidjaz,
where he collected a set of biogra-
phies of tellers of hadiths. While col-
lecting the hadiths, the Imam was in
Egypt, Iraq, Khurasan. One of the
famous sayings of Imam al-Bukhari
states: “He who has received knowl-
edge, has received an inheritance
from the Prophet“ At the end of his
life Al-Bukhari returned to his home-
land, where he died in 870 in a village
Hartang near Samarkand. His work
resulted in a summa of hadiths—“Al-
Djami as-Sahih“, which was canonized
in the 10th century as the main hadith
anthology in the Sunni tradition. In
the 16th century a small mausoleum
and mosque were built above the
tomb of Imam Al-Bukhari. In connec-
tion with 1225thanniversary of imam
Al-Bukhari the new memorial complex
was built in 1998 at the site of the old
mausoleum.
51
BUKHARA
Sacred Bukhara is one of the most esteemed cities in Islamic
civilization. It is situated in the center of the ancient agricul-
tural oasis in the lower reaches of the Zarafshan River
(39°46’N, 64°25’E). It is clear that Bukhara gained the status of
a sacred town in pre-Arabian times. It was probably an
ancient temple area, dating back to the II millennium B.C.
The name of the city is related to the Sanskrit “vihara“—
“shrine“, “monastery“. The same idea is rendered by medieval
sources that report that the Zoroastrian Magi and idolaters
translated the name “Bukhara“ as a “temple“. “Bukhara“, as
well as “vihara“, can be derived from the Sanskrit “varahi“—
“the land of boar (varaha)“, which means “holy land“, as the
boar was revered as a symbol of the priesthood. Referring
to the holiness of the land of Bukhara there was a saying: “If
52
anywhere in the world the light comes from above, in
Bukhara, it streams out of the earth.“ In the Middle Ages
Bukhara was the site of spiritual sermons of prominent reli-
gious figures such as Imam al-Bukhari, al-Gijduvani, Sayf al-
Din Boharzi, Baha ad-Din Naqshband. In the 10th–11th centu-
ries Bukhara was the capital of the Samanid state and since
the 16th century the capital of Bukhara khanate. The last
amir of Bukhara was dethroned in 1920 and Bukhara Repub-
lic was founded. In 1924 the land of Bukhara became part of
the Uzbek SSR, and in 1991—a part of the Republic of
Uzbekistan. The Historical Centre of Bukhara is a unique
“open air“ museum and is included in UNESCO’s list of the
world heritage.
53
 ANCIENT BUKHARA
The earliest layers of the urban culture
of Bukhara have an age of 2500 years.
Its most ancient monuments are the
well of Job—Chashma-Ayub, associat-
ed with the name of the prophet Job
(Ayub), and citadel Ark, which had a
major Zoroastrian temple. Local rulers
struck their own coins from the 2nd
century B.C. In the 3rd–4th centuries
after a great drought Bukhara’s oasis
went through a period of decline. A
recovery began in the middle of the
5th century and was associated with
the reviving of trade on the Silk Road.
The Hephthalites (5th–7th centuries)
and then the Turks (6th–7th centuries)
who conquered Bukhara land, patron-
ized the trade and collected taxes. In
the 7th century the Bukhara Union of
Princedoms was headed by rulers
with the title of Bukhar-Hudat. In the
early eighth century the Arabian com-
mander Quteiba conquered Bukhara
and constructed the first mosque in
the city. At the end of the 9th century
Bukhara became the capital of the
Samanid Power. In the 9th–11th centu-
ries the city was protected with new
high walls.
 ARK
An historian of the 10th century Nar-
shahi states that Bukhara was original-
ly called Numidjket. The core of the
town was Ark, erected at the turn of
the I millennium on a hill with an area
of about 3 hectares. There was a pal-
ace, ruler’s administration, guard’s
room and temple. According to a leg-
end Ark was built by the epic hero
Siyavush. Bukhara’s people honored
his grave at the eastern gate, and eve-
ry year on Navruz, roosters were sacri-
ficed there. Bukhara’s citadel of Ark
got its modern shape in the period of
the Manghit dynasty (1747–1920). At
that time Ark was the center of the
Bukhara state. There was a palace of
the Bukhara Emir, mosques, an
exchequer, governmental administra-
tion and a prison. Its grand entrance
faced Registan Square. The massive
gates were reinforced with two towers
connected by a gallery above. In the
past there hung a lash above the
gates. It symbolized the amir’s power.
Ark was largely destroyed in 1920
when the Red Army subjected the
city to an artillery attack and air
bombing.
55
 THE SAMANID MAUSOLEUM
The famous Samanid mausoleum
stands in the park to the west of the
Ark, dating from the 9th–10th centuries.
It is believed that the founder of the
Samanid Power amir Ismail hadit built
for his father Nasr I, and after that the
mausoleum became the Samanids’
family tomb. There is a version saying
that Ismail himself (died in 907) and
his grandson Nasr II were buried in the
tomb. Its geometry presents the clas-
sical shape of an Islamic mausoleum: a
cube, crowned by a dome. But in the
decoration we can also trace some
56
traditions of Sogdian architecture:
archaic columns in the corners, chains
of “pearls“ and the top arch gallery.
The entrances of the mausoleum, like
temples of fire are open on four sides.
They are “protected“ with the signs of
“magic square“, which represents the
symbolic plan of the mausoleum, and
embodies a harmonious model of the
world: the circle—the sky, the
square—the earth, the wings—the
symbols of angels, forty “pearls“—for-
ty saints who protect the human race.
 CHASHMA-AYUB
Chashma-Ayub belongs to the
esteemed “places of trace“ (“kadam-
joy“) left by saintly persons. The leg-
end says that a holy righteous man
Job, called in the Koran the Prophet
Ayub once visited this place. The
impact of his staff made a healing
water well (“chashma“).The other ver-
sion states that it is the source, bath-
ing in which Ayub was saved from suf-
fering, mentioned in the Old Testa-
ment book of Job. In any case, the
unknown events, associated with the
name of Ayub played its part in caus-
ing the emergence of the city and
Bukharian Jewish community. The
water here still remains pure and is
considered to be curative. Legends
inform us that a cultic construction
existed here in the 12th century. The
inscription on the portal says that
today’s construction was built in the
time of Amir Temur. A characteristic
feature of Chashma-Ayub is a conic
dome typical for Khorezm architec-
ture of 13th–14th centuries. Probably,
Khorezm masters brought to Bukhara
by Temur were the builders of the
mausoleum.
57
 MAGOKI-ATTARI MOSQUE
The most ancient mosque of Magoki-
Attari is situated in the modern center
of Bukhara near Toki-Tilpak-Furushon.
In the early Middle Ages in this place
there was a market called Moss
(Lunar), and next to it, a cultic center
with the Temple of the Moon. During
the spring festival of Navruz figurines
and scapular folk deities were sold
there. After the capture of Bukhara,
the Arabs built one of their first
mosques on the site of the Moon
Temple. Excavations inside of the
mosque revealed the remains of
carved decoration, and the founda-
58
tions of the 10th century building. In
1930 archeologists dug out the south-
ern portal of the mosque of the 12th
century with unique ornamental
bricklaying and archaic carved majoli-
ca. The ancient trace of pre-Islamic
architecture are double quarter-col-
umns on the sides of the portal.
Among the decoration of the façades
are five carved ganch panels with
exquisite compositions of woven
ornament. In the late Middle Ages
Magoki-Attari served as a small district
mosque with the entrance facing Lya-
bi-Hauz.
KALYAN MINARET
Kalyan Minaret (Great Minaret) is the
main symbol of sacred Bukhara. For a
thousand years this sacred tower has
dominated Bukhara, declaring the
greatness of the Islamic faith. At the
foot of the minaret is the central reli-
gious ensemble of Bukhara—Poi-Kaly-
an (literally—“Foot of the Great“). Kaly-
an is a round tower, 9 m. in diameter
at the foot and 6 m. at the top. One
can get into the minaret though a
passage from the roof of the cathe-
dral mosque. Inside the tower there is
a spiral staircase with 104 steps, at the
top isa lantern with 16 arches. The
minaret is 45.6 m high. Initially, it was
even higher as the upper link of the
minaret was above the lantern. For
some reason (possibly because of an
earthquake), it was lost and upgraded
later. The cornice has an inscription
testifying to the date of construc-
tion—1127, and the architect’s name—
Bako. The upper part of Kalyan mina-
ret was damaged during Red Army’s
artillery attack and air bombing of
Bukhara in 1920. It was rebuilt during
the restoration.
 VABKENT MINARET
A minaret named after the spiritual
ruler of Bukhara, Sadr Burhan ad-Din
Abd al-Aziz was constructed at the
end of the 12th century in Vabkent.
The minaret was the second largest in
Bukhara oasis and became a part of
the Friday mosque. The similarity of
architectural solutions suggests that it
could have been built by one of the
students of Bako—the architect of the
Kalyan minaret. It is a more slender
brick tower 39 m. high, 6.2 m. in diam-
eter at the base and 2.8 m. at the top.
Vabkent minaret, as well as Kalyan is
crowned with an elegant arched
60
structure, called a “lamp“ by analogy
with a lighthouse (“minaret“ is derived
from Arabian “manāra“—a place of
burning fire, lighthouse). The trunk of
the minaret is faced with doubled
brick work, has 8 narrow belts of orna-
ments and Islamic epigraphic texts.
The base of the lamp is decorated
with stalactites. For centuries, Kalyan
minaret and Vabkent minaret
remained unrivaled in scale, setting
an elevated standard for sacred tow-
ers of Central Asian Islamic architec-
ture.
 GIJDUVANI MEMORIAL COMPLEX
Bukhara land keeps the ashes of many
great figures of Islamic culture. One of
these persons is a prominent Sufi Abd
al-Halik Gijduvani (died in 1220). He
was born and died in Gijduvan village
near Bukhara. Al-Gijduvani was a disci-
ple of the famous Sheikh Yusuf al-
Hamadani and the founder of Central
Asian Sufi school “Khadjagan“, that is
“way of Khadjas (teachers).“ Adherents
of “Khadjagan“ had to recognize free
will poverty, ascetics, and celibacy and
abstain from contacts with authorities.
In 1432–1433, next to the burial of
Sheikh the ruler of Maverannahr Mirzo
Ulugbek (1409–1449) built a small
one-storey madrasah with portal fac-
ing east. It is four times smaller than
Ulugbek madrasah in Samarkand. A
small minaret similar to Kalyan stands
at the entrance of the madrasah The
modern complex was constructed at
the beginning of the 21st century and
has an exquisite wooden aivan placed
on ten columns, crowned with a blue
dome, under which is the tomb of the
great sheikh.
61
 MAUSOLEUM OF SHEIKH BOHARZI
Sheikh Seif ad-Din Boharzi (died in
1261) was a pupil of outstanding
Khorezm Sufi Nadjm ad-Din Qubro
(died in1220). He chose Bukhara as a
place for his sermons, where he
founded the Sufi community
“Qubroviya.“ Sheikh Boharzi was
famous for converting the Golden
Horde’s khan Berke to Islam. In the
middle of the 13th century he headed
Bukhara madrasah, established by
Masud-beg, Mongolian Muslim minis-
ter. After death the sheikh was buried
in Fathabad district near Bukhara. At
62
the end of the 13th century a mausole-
um was built above his tomb. A dome
building of khanaka with portal was
attached to the mausoleum in the 14th
century, which had been the place for
Sufi meditations up to the end of the
18th century. Near Sheikh Boharzi
memorial there is the mausoleum of
his pupil Buyan-Kuli-khan, who was a
nominal Khan of Chagatay Ulus under
amir Kazagan rule (1346–1358). In the
past it was a refined structure, deco-
rated with carved glazed terracotta of
blue, dark blue and white tones.
TRADING DOMES
Medieval Bukhara was known as a
large trading city, receiving merchants
from Central Asia, Iran and India, Rus-
sia and China. There were a lot of
shopping areas and caravanserais
there. The main streets in the center
served as bazaars, each of which sold
a certain type of product. So, domed
buildings, supported with arches and
arched sails were constructed in
squares and crossroads to make sale
more comfortable. That gave the
name to domed bazaars—“toki“—
arch, dome. Due to the vast space
under the dome, “toki“ stayed cool
even in extreme heat of summer. The
surviving Bukhara “toki“ were built
over four hundred years ago under
Abdullah-khan II. Three of those struc-
tures are still safe. These are: Toki-Zar-
garon (dome of jewelers), Toki-Sarra-
fon (dome of moneychangers) and
Toki-Tilpak-Furushon (dome of head-
wear sellers). Based on its architecture
and function Abdullah-khan’s Tim also
belongs to “Toks“. It is a large multi-
dome trading construction for silk sale.
63
 ULUGBEK MADRASAH
Ulugbek Madrasah is situated to the
east of Poi-Kalyan. It is the first of three
madrasah, built by Amir Temur’s
grandson Mirzo Ulugbek. The other
two were built in Samarkand and
Gijduvan. Following his grandfather’s
tradition Ulugbek patronized science
and education. His name is glorified in
the centuries for his astronomical
observatory activity in Samarkand in
the 15th century. The inscription on the
front door of the madrasahs reads:
“Aspiration to knowledge is a duty of
each Muslim man and woman.“ Origi-
64
nally the madrasah had four domes
and four minarets in the corners. The
construction was completed in 1420,
the name of the architect—Ismail ibn
Tahir Isfahani. The building has two
floors of cells (hudjras) and a mosque.
The facade is decorated with a portal,
two-storey loggias and corner turrets.
At the corners of the mosque there
are classrooms (darskhana). In 1586 in
the time of Abdullah-khan II the
madrasah was restored and its façade
was decorated with glazed bricks and
majolica.
MADRASAH OF ABD AL-AZIZ-KHAN
Opposite to Ulugbek madrasah in
Bukhara there stands a large madra-
sah, built in 1651–1652 by order of
Ashtarkhanid Abd al-Aziz-khan. This
khan was famous for his victory over
the Great Mughal Indian army, which
was expelled from Balkh. Building a
madrasah, Abd al-Aziz followed the
Bukhara khans’ tradition of leaving a
new Islamic school after their rule.
The prototype for Abd al-Aziz-khan
madrasah was Miri-Arab madrasah:
with a high portal, two dome halls in
the frontal part, four aivans in the
yard and round towers at the corners.
The size of the madrasah is 60×48 m.
A darskhana is in its northeast corner
and a winter mosque is in the north-
west. The summer mosque with a
mihrab is located in the southern
aivan. The interior has stalactites and
complex sails. The decor presents a
wide use of painting, mosaic and
majolica panels with pictures of flow-
ering shrubs in vases, fantastic ser-
pentine creatures, and others. On the
sides of the main portal there are fab-
ulous pictures of birds flying to the
sun.
 KALYAN MOSQUE

Kalyan Mosque was constructed in the beginning of the

15th century on the site of the old Qarakhanid Djuma-
Mosque built in the 12th century at the same time with Kaly-
an Minaret. The construction of a new mosque was com-
pleted in the first decades of the Sheybanid Power which is
proved by the date on the facade of the mosque—1514.
Since then, for the past five centuries Kalyan mosque has
acted as the main mosque of Bukhara. The scale of this
Sheybanid mosque is comparable to the Temurid cathedral
mosques in Samarkand and Herat. It is inferior to Bibi Kha-
num mosque in Samarkand in structural scale, but surpass-
es it in the area size (127×78 m). The mosque has a rectan-
gular plan with a traditional four aivans, decorated with
portals. The entrance portal of the mosque faces the Poi-
Kalyan square. During the restoration works of the 1970s
the facades of the mosque were refaced with mosaic tiles
and glazed bricks. On the crosswise axes of the courtyard
66
there are two internal aivans and four ways out of the
mosque. The main building of Kalyan mosque with a high
massive dome is on the eastern side of the yard. On top of
the dome storks used to make their nests before they dis-
appeared from the city after the 1920–1930s. when swamps
had been drained around Bukhara. Inside the mosque there
is a mihrab faced with multicolored mosaics. An octagonal
tent-rotunda, like the “Octahedron“ mausoleum of Shahi-
Zinda in Samarkand stands in front of the portal. It is used as
a pulpit for sermon reading. The internal architecture of the
mosque presents impressive indoor arched galleries around
the perimeter of the yard. They are covered by 288 domes
placed on 208 columns. From any observation point within
the gallery there opens a rhythmically repeated pattern of
arcades and pillars, creating a colorful play of light and
shadow.

67
 MIRI-ARAB MADRASAH

The active Miri-Arab Madrasah is situated opposite to Kaly-

an Mosque. This is one of the most esteemed religious
Islamic universities in the post-Soviet period. It was built in
1535–1536 and has worked for five centuries. After a inter-
ruption of two decades during the Soviet era the madrasah
was reopened in 1945. Classrooms are arranged at the three
corners of the building. The fourth one contains a necropo-
lis with a burial of Miri-Arab (“Prince of Arabs“), with a wood-
en tombstone. So was called Seyid Shams ad-Din Abdallah
al-Arabi, who was originally from Yemen. In the1480s Miri-
Arab settled in Central Asia and became a murid of Khadja
Ahrar. He was the head of the Muslims of Bukhara and
enjoyed great authority at the court of Muhammad Sheyba-
ni and Ubaidullah-khan. The latter revered Miri-Arab as a
spiritual guide. He wrote a commentary on the Koran and
several Sufi treatises. It was Ubaidullah-khan who gave Miri-

68
Arab funds for the construction of the madrasah. Its majes-
tic facade is raised on a high platform above the Kalyan
Mosque level and completely covered with mosaics. It is
flanked by massive corner towers. In the center of the
facade is the entrance portal with a high semi-octahedron
arch, on each side—two-story loggia. Corner rooms are
topped with turquoise domes. Their high cylindrical drums
are decorated with tile mosaics with fringes and epigraphic
texts. The external size of the madrasah is 73×55 m. The
courtyard—37×33 m. It is circled by hudjras on two floors,
111 in number. The internal layout of the building is very
complex and has many steps, transitions, mezzanines and
alleys. Inside, open portals on the axes of the court serve as
summer classrooms. Carved cashin mosaics with plant
ornaments and intricate ligature of suls handwriting is used
in the external decoration.

69
 BAHA AD-DIN NAQSHBAND NECROPOLIS
The Necropolis of sheikh Baha ad-Din Naqshband—the
patron of Bukhara (died in 1389) is situated near Bukhara. He
was born in the village, later called after Qasr-i Orifan—
“castle of those who have known divine truth.“ It is believed
that the sheikh received spiritual ordination from Khadja
Gijduvani who appeared in his dream. His other teacher was
Sultan-Halil, Sufi and governor from the Chingizid dynasty.
The Naqshband Sufi community denied asceticism and was
rather active in business. Baha ad-Din said: “Our way to God
is communication, but not asceticism.“ The memorial com-
plex of Baha ad-Din Naqshband was formed over five cen-
turies. Its center is a rectangular courtyard, where the sheikh
was buried. Memorial mosques from the 19th century adjoin
the yard. In the northwest corner there is the mosque of
Bukhara Emir Muzaffar (1860–1885), on the north side—the
mosque of Kushbegi. Next to the burial place of Naqshband
70
stands the necropolis of the Sheybanids (16th century), who
after death wanted to be under the sheikh’s patronage. The
basis of the necropolis is two dakhmas. The first burials
belong to the first half of the 16th century (supposedly
Ubaidullah-khan was buried there), the second is the burial
of Iskandar-khan (died in1583) and his son Abdullah-khan II
(died in1598). To the west there is another dakhma with the
burial of Amir Imam Kuli-khan (18th century). The largest
building of the memorial is a Sufi khanaka, which bears the
name of Sheybanid Abdal-Aziz-khan (died in 1550), and was
built on his orders. The outer dome of the khanaka is visible
at a distance of a few kilometers from the memorial. Divid-
ed by arches, it consists of nine parts: a small central dome,
four side “petals“ and the four corner ones. It makes it look
like a closed flower bud, the image of “stopped time“.
71
 NAMAZGOH MOSQUE
The ancient preserved mosque
Namazgoh stands to the south of the
walls of the medieval city. It is a spe-
cial type of mosque used for only two
Muslim holidays—Kurban-hait and
Ramazan-hait. Holiday sermons were
made with the participation of city
leaders. That was the third Namazgoh
mosque built in Bukhara. The first
mosque of that type was built at the
beginning of the 8th century by Arab
commander Quteiba in the north of
the city. In 970 Samanid Amir Mansur
ibn Nuh transferred Namazgoh to the
west of the city and from the mosque
72
of Quteiba only the sacred Western
Wall, facing Mecca was left. Over time,
at the northern boundary of Quteiba
Namazgoh there emerged a cemetery
where famous preachers of Islam
were buried. The last mosque was
established at the beginning of the
12th century under Qarakhanid ruler
Arslan-khan III (1102–1130). During the
reconstruction in the16th century,the
arch-domed gallery with high portal
and the pulpit were built. There is a
mihrab in the center decorated with
bricks and carved terracotta.
 FAYZABAD AND KHADJA ZAIN AD-DIN KHANAKAS
Fayzabad khanaka was a large Sufi
shrine. It was built in 1598–1599 to the
northeast of medieval Bukhara. It
stands far from the cramped streets of
the city and has the basic attributes of
a Sufi house—a large dome hall for
group meditations and hudjras for liv-
ing. Its central hall is surrounded by
arch-dome gallery on three sides.
Another Sufi khanaka is close to Kaly-
an mosque in the middle of a residen-
tial area. It was built in the first half of
the 16th century and was named after
Khadja Zain ad-Din. Outside the
khanaka there is the tomb of Khadja
Zain ad-Din marked with a special
pole. On both sides the kanaka is sur-
rounded by aivans with columns hav-
ing stalactite capitals and marble bas-
es. The pool in the yard has stone
steps and a carved stone outlet. By
the middle of the 19th-early 20th centu-
ry Sufi traditions had been largely lost,
and their bearers were mostly wan-
dering dervishes. For this reason, the
kanakas of Bukhara began to carry out
the role of district mosques.
73
 CHOR-BAQR

Chor-Baqr is a country necropolis for the Prophet’s descend-

ants from Djuibar Seyids’ family. It is situated in Sumitan vil-
lage—8 km to the west of Bukhara. Djuibar Seyids had
occupied the major state posts in Bukhara since the Sama-
nids. The oldest part of the memorial is the burial of Abu-
Baqr Saad, the founder of the dynasty. A modest village
cemetery gained the status of a state necropolis in the sec-
ond half of the16th century. Then Sheybanid Abdullah-khan
II reconstructed Chor-Baqr and erected a memorial archi-
tectural complex in memory of Sheikh Khadja Muhammad
Islam (died in1563) and his son Khadja Abu-Baqr Saad (died
in1589). Abdullah-khan II and his father Iskandar-khan, con-
sidered themselves the spiritual pupils of Khadja Muham-
mad Islam. In the middle of the 16th century, under Sheikh
Muhammad Khadja, Djuibar Seyids headed the “Naqsh-
bandiyya“ Sufi brotherhood and became mentors for the

74
Sheybanid sultans. The son of Sheikh Khadja Abu-Baqr Saad
was his successor and like his father, was the head of the
Muslims of Bukhara and one of the largest feudal landown-
ers in the khanate. He owned land and other property in
Bukhara, Samarkand, Termez, Balkh, Herat, Merv, Meshed
and Chardzhui and had an annual income equal to the one
of Samarkand regions. Chor-Baqr necropolis is like a “city of
the dead“ with streets, yards, gates and family dakhmas
with numerous gravestones. The central part is occupied by
a mosque, khanaka and madrasah. The front facades of the
mosque and khanaka have portals with large arches, and
the side facades are formed by two circles of loggia. Their
halls have domes on well-balanced drums and interiors
decorated with crossed arches and a “web“ of netted “sails“
and stalactites. In the 20th century a small minaret, imitating
Kalyan Minaret was built on its central axis.
 BOLO-HAUZ MOSQUE
Many years ago Registan Square,
opposite to Ark citadel was occupied
by numerous beautiful buildings.
Today there is only one monument of
medieval Bukhara—Bolo-Hauz
ensemble. It is a classic example of a
Central Asian mosque: winter building
of 1712, summer aivan of the early
20thcentury with ornamented ceiling
and wooden columns, small pool and
small minaret constructed in 1917 by
usto Shirin. Under a wide dome there
is the main hall of the mosque and
mihrab niche which is richly decorat-
ed with ganch stalactites. The most
76
striking feature of the mosque is the
decoration of the aivan with 20 col-
umns made of walnut, elm and poplar
wood. To seem higher in impression
the columns are each made of two
joined trunks. Their mushroom-
shaped stalactite capitals are decorat-
ed with bright colored paintings. The
transverse beams divide the ceiling
into multi-colored rectangular sec-
tions which are masterpieces of
Bukhara craftsmen with a distinctive
stalactite groove in the middle of a
star-shaped figure.
 ZINDAN
To the north-east of Ark citadel there
is a building of medieval amir pris-
on—“zindan.“ This high construction
looks like a well-fortified castle and is
a state museum today. Archaeological
research has proved that a millennium
ago, this small fortress was the north-
western tower, part of the wall of
Bukhara internal city—shakhristan.
This dungeon obtained its modern
look in the time of last Bukhara Amirs.
The prison consists of two parts. In the
first part prisoners were held in cells,
located in several yards. In the second
part the conditions were severe—
criminals were kept in a deep hole.
They were lowered there with special
ropes as well as their food. The word
“zindan“, in Persian means “under-
ground, darkness“. Twice a month pris-
oners in chains, were taken from the
dungeon to Registan square and were
presented to the Amir of Bukhara,
after which he decided who was to
be killed and who to pardon.
77
 KUKELDASH MADRASAH
Kukeldash madrasah is another Bukha-
ra building of the 16th century con-
structed in the period of Abdullah-
khan II. It bears the name of Khan’s
dignitary Kulbaba Kukeldash (“foster
brother of Khan“) who carried out the
construction of this building in 1568–
1569. The madrasah’s size is 86×69 m.
which makes it one of the biggest in
Bukhara. It has 160 hudjras in two sto-
ries around a 2-aivan courtyard. One
of the most famous Central Asian writ-
ers of the 20th century Sadr ad-Din
Aini (1878–1954) studied there. The tra-
78
ditional facades of the madrasah are
decorated with majolica. The front
façade with entrance hall, mosque
and darskhana faces Lyabi-Hauz. Star-
shaped plafonds made of burnt brick
or ganch form the original interiors of
the madrasah. In the Soviet period the
madrasah was closed and for some
time used as a hotel.There are interest-
ing pictures of the 1930s (in socialist
realism style) in the corners of the dar-
skhana depicting work scenes from
the life of an Uzbek village.
 CHOR-MINOR
“Chor-Minor“ (“Four minarets“) is the
name of an unusual madrasah built in
1807 from the money of a rich Turk-
men merchant Haliph Niyazkul. The
madrasah includes a small yard sur-
rounded by hudjras, summer mosque
in form of a column aivan and a
stoned pool. A special image of the
madrasah is produced by an original
entrance and a four-arch dome con-
struction with four tower-minarets. In
one of the towers there is a staircase
leading to the second floor of the
domed hall. It housed a library, where
precious manuscripts were preserved.
A peculiar image of Chor-Minor is
unique in the Islamic architecture of
Central Asia. Its possible prototype
could be the grand Char-Minor
mosque in Hyderabad (India), built at
the end of the 16th century by Akbar-
shah. The height of the minarets of
Hyderabad Char-Minor exceeds that
of the Kalyan minaret. It is assumed
that Haliph Niyazkul saw this Indian
“World Wonder“ during business trips
and ordered Bukhara architects to
repeat it in miniature.
79
 LYABI-HAUZ
Lyabi-Hauz (literally—“brim of a pool“)
is one of the most popular holiday
destinations for Bukhara residents and
tourists. It is a broad area around an
ancient artificial reservoir. This largest
pool of medieval Bukhara is located in
the central part of the city. It was
made in about 1620 between the
Kanaka and Madrasah, constructed by
the order of the Nadir Divan-Beghi.
The two new buildings and Kukeldash
Madrasah formed a harmonious archi-
tectural ensemble with a reservoir in
the center. The pool is 42 m. long,
36 m. wide and about 5 m. deep. It
80
contains more than four thousand
cubic meters of water, which comes
by the ancient canal Shahrud. The
banks of Lyabi-Hauz have stone steps.
So it was easy for Bukhara water-carri-
ers to fill their leather skins with clean
water. During four hundred years this
place has been arranged for tea drink-
ing open pavilions (chaikhana) and
commercial shops. In the 20th century,
a monument to a legendary folk
hero—the cheerful joker Khadja Nasr
ad-Din was placed in the park near
Lyabi-Hauz.
 KHANAKA AND MADRASAH OF NADIR DIVAN-BEGHI
The khanaka was the first building of
Lyabi-Hauz ensemble, built by vizier
Nadir Divan-Beghi. It was a place for
Sufis to stay and meditate. This is a
massive construction with a central
cruciform domical hall and hudjras in
the corners. Its high portal is flanked
by towers. The mihrab niche is deco-
rated with colorful stalactites. Later,
on the other side of the pool Nadir
Divan-Beghi built a caravanserai. At
the grand opening of the caravanserai
Bukhara Khan Imamkuli (1611–1642) on
the advice of Sufi sheikhs gave com-
pliments to Nadir Divan-Beghi for the
building made “for the glory of Allah“.
After that, Nadir Divan-Beghi had to
make the caravanseraia madrasah. But
constructed with another purpose the
building does not have a mosque,
classrooms or courtyard aivans. A
memorable picture of the madrasah is
the images of fantastic birds with deer
in their talons on the entrance arch.
These legendary birds of happiness,
Semurg, flying to the sunsymbolize
aspiration for spiritual knowledge.
81
 SITORAI-MOHI-HOSA

The palace Sitorai-Mohi-Hosa (“Elegant Star of the Moon“)

was a country residence of the Bukhara amirs. It is situated
4 km north of Bukhara in the area of a drained swamp. Parts
of the palace buildings existed there under Amirs Nasrullah
and Muzaffar. But large-scale construction in Sitorai-Mohi-
Hosa was started only in the time of Amir Abd al-Ahad
(died in 1910). The palace complex had been built for two
decades by the end of the 19th century. The old palace was
constructed under Amir Abd al-Ahad-khan. He sent Bukha-
ra masters to Petersburg and Yalta to study Russian architec-
ture. Using Russian experience, local architects headed by
usto Khadja Hafiz built a splendid building that combined
local Bukhara and European traditions. The palace throne-
yard played a major role. During the Amir’s reception cere-
monies the court elite stood under its arches. Some of the
buildings of the palace were designed by an engineer,

82
Ignatiy Sakovich. The new palace complex of Sitorai-Mohi-
Hosa was finished in the time of amir Alim-khan. It had a
grand entrance arch, yard with galleries, main building in
the European style and house for the amir’s harem in the
garden. New structures were designed by engineer Morgu-
lis. Dutch tiled stoves, stained glass and mirrors were sup-
plied by Russian plants. The marble lions at the entrance
were sculptured by Nurata masters, they also carved marble
spillways for the hauz in a form of a dragon jaw. The carved
ganch panels on mirror background in “The White hall“
were made by Bukhara masters headed by usto Shirin
Muradov. The paintings in the reception room—by usto
Hasan-Djan. They are recognized masterpieces of Bukhara
craft. After the revolution of 1920, Sitorai-Mohi-Hosa was
the chairman of the Supreme state body of Bukhara Nation-
al Republic (1920–1924)—all-Bukhara Kurultai.
84
KHIVA
Khiva is a historical city in the lower reaches of the Amu-
Darya River (41°22’N, 60°21’E), which in the Middle Ages
became the successor of the ancient Khorezm city culture.
The history of antic Khorezm, which was destroyed by the
Arabian invasion, by that time, had already numbered nearly
two thousand years. In the sacred book of Zoroastrians
“Avesta“, it is referred as Hvarizam in the Behistun inscriptions
of king Darius, Hvarazmish, in the writings of Arrian and in
Strabo Horasmis. In the 6th–5th centuries B.C. Khorezm sub-
mitted to the Persians, and became one of the Achaeme-
nids’ satrapies, but by the 4th century B.C. iy regained its
independence. During the Asian campaign, Alexander the
Great made a peace treaty with the Khorezm king Pharas-
man. In the first century A.D. the Afrigid dynasty came to
power in Khorezm, who ruled up to the end of the 10th cen-
tury. In the 8th century these lands were annexed by the
Arabs and became part of the Islamic world. In the 9th–13th
centuries the state of Khorezm-shahs arose in Khorezm and
was crushed by the Mongols in the 13th century. In the 14th–
15thcenturies Khorezm was a part of the Temurid state, and
in the 16th century it was separated by the Chingizid khans.
By the 17thcentury Amu-Darya changed its crease and Khiva
became the center of the oasis and the capital of the khan-
ate.In 1873 Russiaestablished a protectorate overthe Khan-
ate ofKhiva. The Khiva khan was dethroned in 1920 and the
Khiva Republic was formed. It was annexed to the USSR and
Khiva became an administrative part of Uzbekistan in 1924.
85
 ICHAN-QALA
Ichan-Qala (literary “internal fortress“) is the inner city, which
was originally shahristan of medieval Khiva. Referring to this
city in the 10th century Arabian geographer al-Maqdisi
wrote, “Khiva is on the edge of the desert, it is a big city, it is
on a canal, extracted from the river, it has a comfortable
mosque.“ Ichan-Qala has a rectangular plan, with the area
650×400 m. It is surrounded by a strong defensive wall of
clay, strengthened by semicircular towers. An arrow-shaped
gallery with embrasures went along the top of the wall. The
length of the wall is 2200 m, the height 7–8 m. Each of
Ichan-Qala’s four walls has its own gates (Darvaza). The
western gates, Ata-Darvaza, are close to Kunya-Ark, the
northern, Bahcha-Darvaza, are on the way to Urgench, the
eastern, Palvan-Darvaza, lead to Khasarasp and to the Amu-
Darya, and the southern, Tash-Darvaza, to the Karakum
desert. Khiva, within Ichan-Kala became the capital of the
86
northern Khanate in the time of the Chingizid Khan Arab-
Muhammad (1602–1623). After that the khanate became
known as the Khiva Khanate. Under the rule of Arab-khan’s
sons, Esfendiyar (1623–1644) and Abu-l-Ghazi (1644–1664),
five other major cities of Khorezm recognized the suprema-
cy of Khiva. The walls of Ichan-Qala protected the city up to
the invasion of Nadir-shah, who captured Khiva in the mid-
dle of the 18thcentury. Under the Kungrad dynasty Khiva
had grown so much that in the 20th century, the area out-
side the city (Dishan-Qala) was fifteen times bigger than the
area of Ichan-Qala. Ichan-Qala was named in UNESCO’s list
of World Heritage as the historical center of Khiva. There are
more than sixty architectural monuments here: palaces,
mosques, minarets, mausoleums, which all together pre-
sent a holistic world of a medieval Eastern city.
 AQ-MOSQUE
Aq-Mosque (“White Mosque“) was
built by order of Anusha-khan (1663–
1687) in the middle of the 17th century.
It is a small district mosque situated by
the Palvan-Darvaza gates. The winter
building of the mosque (khanaka)
with a white sphere-conical dome is
13×9 m. On three sides there are
khanaka aivans with wooden columns,
which serve as a summer mosque.
The name “Aq (White)“ can mean not
only the color but also the status of an
important mosque, located in the
main street of Ichan-Qala. Aq-Mosque
mosque shows Khorezm’s geographi-
88
cal feature connected with a place for
mihrab niche, which has to face Kibla,
that is Mecca. If in Samarkand, Bukha-
ra, Termez and other southern cities
mihrab is on the western side, in all
Khorezmian mosques, including Aq-
Mosque, mihrabs face south. The win-
dows of the mosque are decorated
with ganch openwork lattice. The
doors are covered with ornamental
carvings and epigraphic text with the
names of Khiva masters Nur Muham-
mad and Qalandar, and the years of
installment—1838 and 1842.
 ANUSHА-KHAN’S BATHHOUSES
The Bathhouses of Anusha-khan are
located near Aq-Mosque. They sup-
posed to be built in honor of Anush-
khan by his father—famous historian
Abu-l-Ghazi-khan (1644–1664). They
were given to Aq-Mosque as vaqf, that
is the revenues were to support the
mosque. Anusha-khan bathhouses are
most interesting in their heating,
water-supply and sewerage systems.
Like other oriental bathhouses, this
semi-underground structure consists
of a lobby, cloakrooms and washing
rooms. It is heated through flues laid
under the floor. Built deep in the
ground, the bath houses had a better
prospect ofretaining heat. The heat
input, including that for the water
heating is provided by a boiler room.
The bathroom facilities are connected
by narrow vaulted passages, so the
temperature of walls and the floor in
the next room is higher than in the
previous one. Only domes with sky-
lights are visible from the outside. By
the middle of the 20th century they
were in a dilapidated condition and
have been restored.
89
 DJUMA-MOSQUE

Djuma-Mosque of Khiva is situated in the center of Ichan-

Qala. In its present form it was built in the late 18th century,
but it is a very ancient type of great mosque, the entire
area of which is covered with a flat roof, supported by
wooden columns. Such construction is peculiar for ancient
Arabian mosques, when a place for mass prayers were usu-
ally courtyards, partially covered with wooden roofs. The
open yard mosque principle allowed it to be not only a
house of prayer, but also a place for public meetings and
believers’ training sessions. This tradition was inherited by
Khorezm architecture and Djuma-Mosque was built as a
prototype of an older unpreserved mosque of that type in
Khiva of which there are now no other examples in Central
Asia. It is possible that Djuma-Mosque is just the 18th centu-
ry reconstruction of that ancient cathedral mosque of Khi-
va, mentioned by poet Al-Makdisi in the 10th century. Two

90
 hundred carved wooden columns create an exclusive
atmosphere for praying. Their number is 212. They are
arranged in a square grid of 3.15×3.15 m. Most of the col-
umns were made of from tree trunks in the 18th–19th centu-
ries. Others were gathered from ruined medieval buildings.
The oldest of these columns could be taken from the
medieval capital of Khorezm—Kyat died in the Amu-Darya
waters. 21 columns date back to the 10th–11st centuries and
are ornamented with Arabian inscriptions in Kufi. Four col-
umns have inscriptions in Nash. The columns of the 18th–
19th centuries are well recognized due to typical floral-veg-
etative pattern.The columns are leveled by different stone
“pillows“ and bases. Low light coming through the holes in
the ceiling creates a gloom, which helps concentration on
prayer even on a bright sunny day. Under the southern
hatch there is a small hauz.
 MINARET OF DJUMA-MOSQUE
An austere brick minaret with simple
belts of décor stands at the north wall
of Djuma-Mosque. It occupies central
position inside Ichan-Qala. The diame-
ter of the minaret of Djuma-Mosque is
6.2 m. at the base and it is 32.5 m.
high. The top is crowned with an
8-arch lantern decorated with a stalac-
tite cornice and dome. The minaret
was built on the site of an older mina-
ret that collapsed in the 17th century.
The construction of the minaret, as
well as the construction (or recon-
struction) of Djuma-Mosque, was car-
ried out by the major dignitary Abdur-
92
rahman Mihtari at the end of the 18th
century with the blessing of the ruler
of Khiva Evez Muhammad-inak (1790–
1804). A curious fact draws people’s
attention—the five Khiva’s minarets
are erected on the same line of “East-
West“ (the line of motion of the Sun),
about 200 m in distance from each
other. The minaret of Djuma-Mosque
is in the middle. To the west of it Kalta-
MinorMinaret and the one of the com-
plex of Sha-Kalandar Bobo. To the
eastthe minaret of Seyid-biy mosque-
and the minaret of Palvan-kari.
 MADRASAHS OF ARAB-KHAN AND MUHAMMAD-AMIN-INAK
Two historical madrasah are situated
in the center of Ichan-Qala to the left
of the road going from Ata-Darvaza
gates to Palvan-Darvaza. The first is
connected with Chingizid Arab
Muhammad-khan (1602–1623), father
of the historian Abu-l-Ghazi-khan, and
the second relates to Muhammad
Amin-inak (1763/70–1790). The Arab-
khan Madrasah was built in 1616 to
commemorate the transfer of
Khorezm’s capital from Kunya-
Urgench to Khiva. Originally it was a
modest one-story frame building,
which preserved a few wooden col-
umns and patterned ceilings (the frag-
ments are stored in the Tash-Hauli
museum). The present brick building
was built on the site of an old madra-
sah in the reign of Allakuli-khan in
1838. The construction of Muham-
mad-Amin-inak madrasah dates to the
second half of the 18thcentury. There is
a burial inside of the pylon of the
southern yard aivan. According to a
legend, either Muhammad Amin-inak
is buried there, or his young son, Kut-
lu-Marat-bala, who was killed in the
struggle for the throne.
93
MAUSOLEUM OF SEYID ALA AD-DIN
Mausoleum of Khorezmian sheikh
Seyid Ala ad-Din (died in1303) is one of
the most ancient and esteemed his-
torical places of Khiva. Actually the
mausoleum is a very modest low
dome structure, built deeply into the
ground. On the wall of the mausole-
um there is an inscription made dur-
ing the repairs in 1825: “For some time
he lived in Kaaba (in Mecca), and final-
ly came here. His name is Ala ad-
Din—a unique jewel in the sea of sci-
ence ... “Further the text states that
the mausoleum was built by the
famous Bukhara sheikh, hadjagan Sey-
94
id Amir Kulyal (died in1370). However,
the biography of Amir Kulyal says
nothing about his stay in Khorezm.
Probably, Amir Kulyal was connected
with Sheikh Ala ad-Din through his
father, Seyid Hamza, who in the sec-
ond half of the 18th century moved
from sacred Medina to Bukhara. To
the east of the tomb of Sheikh there is
a memorial mosque. Inside the mau-
soleum there is an exquisite majolica
tomb from the 14th century, decorated
with floral ornaments and texts from
Arabian poetry.
MADRASAH OF MUHAMMAD RAHIM-KHAN
Madrasah of Muhammad Rahim-
khan stands opposite to the gates of
Kunya-Ark. The madrasah is one of
the largest in Khiva. It was built by
order of Seyid Muhammad-Rahim II
(1863–1910) widely known as Uzbek
poet Feruz-Shah. By his order many
Persian and Arabic manuscripts were
translated into the Uzbek language.
Poems by Feruz-Shah were published
in books: “Gazelle of Feruz“, “Beit of
Feruz“ and “Collection of Poems by
Feruz“. The rectangular building of
the madrasah has a four-aivan yard
and small towers in the corners. Its
large entrance portal contains a com-
plex lobby with a five-beam arcade
of niches. Hudjras of madrasah are
topped with “Balkhi“ domes, and
apart of the living room has compart-
ments for household needs. In the
center of the southern wing of the
madrasah there is a dome mosque.
This building is the lastbuilt large-
scale structure of a Khiva madrasah.
During the rule of Muhammad
Rahim-khan II in 1873, Russian troops
invaded the khanate, which led to
the establishment of a Russian pro-
tectorate.
95
KUNYA-ARK. KURINUSH-KHANA

Kunya-Ark (“Old fortress“) is the inner citadel of Ichan-Qala

with an area of 1.2 hectares. It was founded in the late 17th
century by Muhammad-Erenek-khan (1687–1688), who was
grandson of Abu-l-Ghazi-khan, when there was an urgent
need in setting up an administrative center for the Khan’s
power. A century later, Kunya-Ark was already a “city within
a city“, separated from Ichan-Qala by a high wall. There
were: Khan’s mosque, a residence, supreme court, waiting
room (kurinysh-khana), powder factory, arsenal, mint, regis-
try, harem, kitchens, stables, guardhouse and other build-
ings. The citadel was connected with Ichan-Qala through
the eastern fortress gates, flanked by cylindrical towers.
Inside the gates there is a wide open courtyard with
kurinysh-khana on the west side. The original building of
kurinysh-khana was destroyed in the middle of the 18th cen-
tury, when Iranian troops invaded the Khanate. Today’s con-
structions were built by Iltuzar-khan (1804–1806) and repre-
sent a palace with many rooms for the audiences. In its
northern part there is the court withKhan’s yurt, before
which the khan was sitting during official receptions. The
southern side of the court is delimited by aivan, lined with
blue, white and dark blue majolica. On the stone base of
one of its pillars there are carved poems by Khorezmian his-
torian and poet Agahi. Ornamented carved doors lead from
the aivan to the throne room, whose walls are decorated
with carved ganch and the ceiling is filled with paintings.
Khan’s throne was put into a niche on the southern wall.
The throne was made of wood in 1816 and covered with
thin sheet silver. After the Russian conquest of Khiva in 1873
the throne was taken to Moscow. It is preserved in the
Kremlin Armory, and Kunya-Ark has a copy. In the western
part of kurinysh-khana there was a treasury and depository
of manuscripts.

97
 KUNYA-ARK. NORTHERN HALF

The northwest corner of the kurinysh-khana has an exit and

corridor leading to the northern part of the Kunya-Ark. It
has the khan’s mosque, mint, the harem of the ruler and the
tower of Aq-Sheikh-bobo. This is the highest point of Kun-
ya-Ark, a multi-storey building which served as a patrol tow-
er. According to a legend, in the 14th century in this place
there was the cell of Saint Aq-Sheikh-bobo, who is either
identified with Sheikh Mukhtar Khorezm-Vali or considered
his teacher. The mint is located opposite to the entrance
into the northern half of Kunya-Ark. It was set up pretty late,
during the reign of Muhammad Rahim-khan I (1806–1825),
who carried out a tax reform, established custom houses
and initiated gold coin minting. During a century of minting
Kunya-Ark used hundreds of dies for coinage of gold, silver
and copper. More than 300 of them are kept today in the
Hermitage (St. Petersburg). Near the mint stands the khan’s
mosque, built by Muhammad Rahim-khan I’s successor,
Allakuli-khan (1825–1842). Compared to a simple winter hall
devoid of decoration, the mosque stands out with its fes-
tive summer part. It is an aivan with two rows of columns,
painted in blue, green and red. Its walls, mihrab and minbar
as well as small towers along the edges are completely cov-
ered with majolica tiles of an exquisite floral pattern. The
names of ceramics masters who made this work are Usto
Abdulla Ibadulla and Abdulla (the latter for his masterly craft
earned the nickname “Gin“). Farther, at the foot of Aq-
Sheikh-bobo hill there is the khan’s residence, including the
rooms of the harem. This is the latest structure of the Kun-
ya-Ark erected by Muhammad Rahim-khan II. It includes the
khan’s rooms, outdoor shadow aivan and a number of two-
storey houses for the women of harem.

99
PAHLAVAN MAHMUD NECROPOLIS
Necropolis of Pahlavan-Mahmud is the cultic center of
Ichan-Qala. It was built near the tomb of Khiva’s patron
Pahlavan-Mahmud (1247–1326) who lived in the severe
years of Mongol rule in Central Asia. He earned fame as a
professional wrestler and poet-philosopher. His wrestling
victories made him famous as far as India and Persia. Appar-
ently, Pahlavan-Mahmud was a Sufi teacher of high rank. In
the biography of Baha ad-Din Naqshband he reports on the
meeting with the followers of the sheikh poet-fighter. In
favor of his status of Sufi says Pahlavan’s profession—a skin-
ner (tanning and processing of hides). This “professional“
quality expressed the essence of Sufi teacher’s skill—how
can “profane“ be made “high.“ A special feature of his school
was that Pahlavan trained his students’ spirit through the
art of wrestling. He died at the age of about 80 in his “work-
shop“ in Khiva, where he was buried. A cemetery arose
around the holy burial place during the 14th–15th centuries.
So Shirgazi-khan, building his madrasah in the early 18th
century, purposely oriented it to the necropolis of Pahlavan-
Mahmud. The Pahlavan-Mahmud grave is behind a low
fence in the northwestern part. The early mausoleum was
rebuilt in 1810, by Muhammad Rahim-khan I (1806–1825), so
that the new mausoleum included the old tomb and a
khanaka with a high double dome. At the entrance of the
necropolis there was built a memorial yard and the gates of
the old cemetery became the entrance portal of the
necropolis. At the beginning of the 20thcentury, Esfendiyar-
khan (1910–1918), the son of Feruz-shah ordered to be built
a two-storied korikhana in the western sector of the yard
and a summer aivan mosque in the eastern part. In the
three lower hudjras Esfendiyar’s mother Kutlugbiki-khanum
and two members of the Khan’s family were buried. Other
rooms were for Koran readers.
101
 NECROPOLIS OF KHIVA KHANS

After Muhammad Rahim-khan I died he was buried in the

khanaka which he had constructed by the Pahlavan-Mah-
mud mausoleum. That gave rise to the Khiva khans’ necrop-
olis. Muhammad Rahim-khan I’s burial place occupies the
central niche opposite to the entrance. When the khanaka
became the khan’s mausoleum, the gravestone of khan-his-
torian Abu-l-Ghazi-khan (1603–1664) and probable grave-
stone of his son Anush-khan were transferred into the mau-
soleum. A portal pylon bears a marble plate with an epi-
taph to a courtier Ilbars-khan II (1728–1740). Later, in 1825,
the eastern wing was added where Allakuli-khan (1825–
1842) was buried. Another Khiva khan Esfendiyar in advance
prepared a big family tomb in the korikhana of Pahlavan-
Mahmud necropolis, however, was not buried there. He was
killed outside the walls of Ichan-Qala in a coup, carried out
by Turkmen leader Djunaid-khan, and Khiva mortuary rite
determined that the dead body could not cross city walls.
102
The interiors of the Pahlavan-Mahmud necropolis, as well as
the main burial gravestones are decorated with refined
majolica. Decorations with blue majolica tiles and intricate
compositions of plant and geometrical patterns girihs are
recognized masterpieces of Khiva art. The highest level of
this work gives reason to suppose that under Muhammad
Rahim-khan I special measures had been taken to revive
this ancient craft. In the facings of the khanaka and memori-
al mosque there are tiles with poems, “Flowers of the paint-
ings serve as models for spring: they are memory of Abdul-
lah’s art.“ So once again a genius ceramist “Jin“ Abdullah
reminded us about himself, whom we have known from
the ceramic decoration of Kunya-Ark. Epigraphic text in
Pahlavan-Mahmud necropolis has preserved the name of
the architect Adina-Murad, also the names of Abdullah’s
partner ceramicists—Nur-Muhammad and Muhammad-
Fano.
 MUHAMMAD AMIN-KHAN MADRASAH AND KALTA-MINOR
The biggest medieval madrasah in Khiva, a madrasah
named afterMuhammad Amin-khan (1845–1855) is located
opposite to Kunya-Ark at the gates of Ata-Darvaza. Such
was the memory left by the last belligerent Khan of Khiva,
who had an army of 40,000 horsemen. His campaigns
against the Turkmens expanded and strengthened the
boundaries of the Khiva Khanate. His life was cut short by
the bold attack of Turkmens on his camp. Khan’s head was
sent to the Shakh of Persia, who ordered it to be buried
with honors. Despite a short life, Muhammad Amin-khan
performed his duty and built a new madrasah in Khiva. On
its portal there is an inscription: “This perfect building will
eternally stand for the joy of future generations.“ Its area is
72×60 m. It has 125 hudjras and could receive up to 260 stu-
dents. The portal is crowned with five domes and flanked
by corner towers. The hudjras on the second floor have
arched loggia overlooking the exterior of the building. Next
to the Muhammad Amin-khan Madrasah stands the unfin-
ished minaret Kalta-Minor (“short minaret“), completely cov-
ered with glazed tiles in cold blue. Its massive base is 14.2 m.
in diameter. Kalta-Minor should have become the largest
minaret in Central Asia. Based on the proportions, its height
would exceed 80 m, significantly taller than the highest
minaret in Kunya-Urgench (14th century, 62 m). The con-
struction of the minaret began in about 1855, but stopped
at the height of 26 m. The reason was chaos and strife
occurred in the Khanate after Muhammad Amin-khan’s
death. The legend has kept a better version. Bukhara khan
got to know about the construction of the grandiose mina-
ret in Khiva and agreed with its architect about the building
of a higher minaret in Bukhara. Khiva Khan was enraged
and ordered the architect to be thrown from the minaret.
That stopped the construction.
105
 MADRASAHs OF KHURDJUM AND ALLAKULI-KHAN
Madrasah of Khodjamberdy-biy was
the first madrasah built at the eastern
gates of Pahlavan Darvaza and dates
back to 1688. One and a half centuries
later, the Khan of Khiva Allakuli-khan
chose that place for the construction
of a new madrasah. A segment of
Ichan-Qala wall was dismantled as the
construction site of Alakuli-khan
Madrasah was too close. Old Khod-
jamberdy-biy madrasah was radically
reconstructed. The first was as it
formed a foundation for Madrasah of
Allakuli-khan because of significant
difference of floor levels. The ramp
106
bisected Khodjamberdy-biy Madrasah.
Its new name—Madrasah of Khurd-
jum (“Saddlebag“) follows from that.
Allakuli-khan provided the new
madrasah with rich revenues—9 thou-
sand hectares of irrigated land, the
northern tim (shopping mall) and
Allakuli-khan caravanserai were grant-
ed as vaqf. In the southern part of the
portal there is a mosque, in the north-
ern a darskhana. In several hudjras
above the portal Allakuli-khan found-
ed a library, which was open for stu-
dents from all the Khiva madrasah.
 MADRASAHs OF KUTLUG-MURAD-INAK AND ABDULLAH-KHAN
Madrasah of Kutlug-Murad-inak is
located opposite to Madrasah of
Allakuli-khan. A powerful member of
Khan’s family Kutlug-Murad-inak,
brother of Muhammad Rahim Khan I,
constructed the madrasah in 1804–
1812. He bequeathed to be buried in
the madrasah. As Kutlug-Murad-inak
died outside the city and customs
prohibited the carrying of the dead
through Ichan-Qala gates or wall, the
city wall was broken to bury him. Kut-
lug-Murad-inak’s burial is under the
floor of the central lobby. Madrasah of
Kutlug-Murad-inak was the first two-
storied madrasah in Khiva. Only this
monument in Khiva is decorated with
relief unglazed terracotta. In the court-
yard of Kutlug-Murad-inak there was a
tented well and all the people of the
city used its water. Madrasah of
Abdullah-khan is located to the south
of Kutlug-Murad-inak Madrasah. It was
built by the wife of Kutlug-Murad-inak
in honor of their 17-year-old son
Abdullah killed in a battle with the
Turkmens (probably, at the same time
as Muhammad-Amin-khan).
107
 TASH-HAULI

By the order of Allakuli-khan in 1830–1840, the political,

public and trading center of Khiva was moved to the east
part of Ichan-Qala. The new complex formed at the gates of
Palvan-Darvaza included a madrasah, caravanserai and
shopping mall (tim). At this time a new palace was con-
structed by the order of Allakuli-kan. The palace was named
as Tash-Hauli (“stone courtyard“). It looks like a fortress with
high battlements, towers and fortified gates. Its architecture
is based on the traditions of Khorezm houses and country
villas (“hauli“). On the one hand it resembles a fortress with
high walls topped with battlements. In the process of con-
struction architects and craftsmen were strictly required to
be fast at work. When architect Nur-Muhammad Usto Tadji-
khan refused to complete the construction in two years,
Allakuli-khan ordered him to be put on a stake. After that,

108
another architect Usto Kalandar Hivaki continued build-
ingthe palace for another nine years (!). Tash-Hauli consists
of three parts grouped around inner courtyards. The north-
ern part was occupied by the khan’s harem. The formal
reception room, ishrat-hauli, adjoins the last one on the
southeast; the court office (arz-hauli) on the southwest. In
area Tash-Hauli is half as small as Kunya-Ark.In the center of
ishrat-hauli there is a round platform for the khan’s yurt,
where important tribal guests were received. A long laby-
rinth of dark corridors and rooms connected different parts
of the palace. Refined majolica, colored painting on ceiling,
carved columns and doors are distinctive features of the
Tash-Hauli décor. Part of the girihs and floral majolica orna-
ments are epigraphic cartouches, where the name of the
master, “gin“ Abdulla is mentioned.
 TASH-HAULI’S HAREM

A corridor separated the family courtyard of Tash-Hauli (har-

em) from the official part. The southern side of this patriar-
chal Khan’s house is occupied by five main rooms each of
which consists of an aivan, living room and dark back room.
The southeastern quarters were occupied by Allakuli-khan,
the other four by his wives. The two-storied structures
along the perimeter of the courtyard intended for servants,
relatives and concubines. In the central part of the yard
there is a covered well and a platform for yurts. The size of
Allakuli-khan’s harem is 80×42 m. Its area is more than one
and half times larger than the Khan’s harem in Kunya-Ark.
The main attraction of the harem is the decoration of the
outdoor terraces (aivans), covered with unrivaled ornamen-
tal patterns. Majolica wall panels have traditional cold blue
colors, the ceilings are painted with warm red and brown
tones. Copper openwork lattices decorate the windows. All
the surfaces of the palace buildings of Tash-Hauli is an open
110
moral teaching “book“. By Allakuli-khan’s request, verses by
the great poet Muhammad Riza Agakhi (1809–1874) were
written on marble bases, wooden columns, in majolica
cartouches,as it is in Kunya-Ark. The verses represent epi-
sodes from the history of the Khiva khans. Agakhi served
under Allakuli-khan as a controller of irrigation canals and
became famous for writing instructive chronicles of the Khi-
va Khanate. The masterpieces of the palace decoration are
the carved wooden columns on stone bases, showing a
great variety of shapes and ornamental styles. The cylindri-
cal body of the columns is covered with floral ornaments,
belts with Koranic citations and Islamic sayings of good
wishes. This is not just decoration, but also an amulet of the
structure, a magic protection for the house, the pillar which
supports the roof. In the 20th century Tash-Hauli palace
became a historical museum of Khorezm.
 COMPLEX OF SEYID-BIY AND MINARET OF PALVAN-KARI
Another Allakuli’s merits was the con-
struction of a wall around outer city of
Khiva—Dishan-Qala. According to
Agakhi, this wall, 5.6 km long was built
by 200 thousand people within
3 years. That protected the urban are-
as from the warlike Turkmens. Dishan-
Qala, being a younger part of Khiva
retained only a few historical monu-
ments. One of them is a small reli-
gious complex at the gate of Palvan-
Darvaza. It was built in the time of
Allakuli-khan by a rich merchant Seyid
Sheliker-biy. That consists of a nine-
112
dome mosque, two-storied madrasah
and minaret. The old wooden col-
umns of the mosque were taken from
some buildings of the 18th–19th centu-
ries. The height of Sheliker-biy minaret
is more than 30 m. and it is crowned
with a stalactite cornice and arch lan-
tern. Next on the same street, going
from Palvan-Darvaza to the outer
gates of Dishan-Qala there stands
stands Palvan-Kariminaret (late 19th-
early 20th century), decorated with
belts of figured brickwork and tiles of
green glaze.
CHADRA-HAULI
Chadra-Hauli is an old high-rise build-
ing, located far from city’s vanity and
surrounded by orchards. It dates back
to the 17th–19th centuries and was a
rest home for the Khiva khans who
liked to come here in the hot summer
season. .There is no information on
which of the khans built and used
Chadra-Hauli. This palace structure is a
vanished type of Khorezm tower resi-
dential construction, made of clay
blocks (pahsa). The closest to it in
style is Aq-Sheikh-bobo tower in Kun-
ya-Ark. The general size of this unique
structure is 16.5×7.7 m. and its height
is more than 30 m. Due to the elevat-
ed location, the rooms were well aer-
ated by the summer winds and stayed
relatively cool. On the ground floor of
this construction there were a stable
and warehouses. Other floors were
occupied by living rooms and an
open terrace (aivan). The woman’s half
of the building was on the fourth floor.
The floors were connected by a
removable ladder.
113
 ISLAM-KHADJA ENSEMBLE

Seyid Islam-Khadja was one of the main officials of the Khi-

va Khanate in the later years of the rule of Muhammad
Rahim-khan II (1863–1910). After the ascension to the throne
of Esfendiyar-khan (1910–1920) Islam-Khadja got the post of
first minister and a mandate for conducting reforms. His
position at the court of Esfendiyar-khan, Islam-Khadja
secured by giving him his daughter in marriage. The new
vizier managed to open several progressive schools in Khiva,
built a post and telegraph station. The innovative activity of
Islam-Khadja caused concern among those officialswho
rose to power during the reign of the old khan. In 1911 a
group of dignitaries of Khiva handed over to the khan a
written protest against the innovations of Islam-Khadja. In
response, the vizier accused his opponents of plotting and
they were arrested. But the reforms of Islam-Khadja were
not incompleted. His adversaries had sent a murderer, and

114
in the summer of 1913 Seyid Islam-Khadja was killed. Seyid
Islam-Khadja built the ensemble in the southeastern part of
Ichan-Qala. It consisted of the smallest madrasah in Khiva
and the highest minaret in the city. Islam-Khadja minaret
imitates the ancient minarets of the 11th–12th centuries. Its
top platform (45 m) is the highest observation point in Khi-
va. Horizontal belts of dark blue, white, blue and green
glazed mosaic decorate Islam-Khadja minaret. Its skylight
has a stalactite cornice and ceramic lattices—pandjara.The
small yard of the madrasah has forty two hudjras. The décor
of the main façade makes a good background for the mina-
ret: blue and white majolica, tympans and glazed ornament.
The southern sector of the madrasah is occupied by a
mosque. Its low heavy dome balances the vertical position
of the minaret. Majolica and carved ganch decorate the
mihrab niche of the mosque.
SHAHRISABZ
Shahrisabz (“green city“) is located in the upper reaches of
the Kashkadarya river to the southwest of Zaravshan ridge
(39°03’N, 66°50’E). The first settlement arose here about
2700 years ago. Since the time of Achaemenids and Alexan-
der the Great, over the mountain pass there was a short cut
caravan road to Marakanda (Samarkand) (now there is a
highway). In the early Middle Ages the town was known as
Kesh and belonged to the community of Sogdian principal-
ities, which in the 5th–7th centuries obeyed the Ephtalites,
Turks, and then the Chinese Tang Empire. Under Ishkhid Var-
human (about 650) Kesh recognized the supremacy of
Samarkand ruler. Arabic governor Quteiba, in 712, signing a
peace treaty with Ihshid Gurek, confirmed the power of
Samarkand king over Kesh. In the 8th century Kesh fiercely
116
opposed the establishment of Arab government and in
770 supported an anti Islamic uprising led by Mukanna. In
the 9th century Kesh became one of the centers of Islam
and its name was glorified by the hadiths collector Abu
Muhammad Abdalah al-Keshi. In the 10th–12th centuries
Kesh was a large city under the rule of Samanids and Qara-
khanids. In the time of the Mongols Shahrisabz oasis
became an independent principality of the Barlas tribe.
Amir Temur’s clan was a part of this tribe. That is why the
city became the second capital of Temur’s empire, a “dome
of science and adab,“ and was supposed to outshine Bukha-
ra. In the 18th–19thcenturies the Shakhrisabz princedom
defended its independence in continual wars with the
Bukhara Khanate.
117
 AQ-SARAI PALACE

In Amir Temur’s time in the northwest part of Shahrisabz

there was built the huge Aq-Sarai (“White Palace“)—a gov-
ernmental residence. It surpassed in sizethe Kuk-Saraipalace
and even the ambitious Djuma-Mosque in Samarkand. In all
respects it was the largest architectural building of Temur’s
Power.An analysis of the geometric proportions hints that
the height of the Aq-Sarai portal could have reached 50 m.
The diameter of octagonal base of the tower-minarets flank-
ing the portal, is 7.3 m (10 gyaz). Their height exceeded
65 m, so that they were one and a half times higher than
the Kalyan minaret in Bukhara. The span between the tow-
ers is 22 m. The construction of Aq-Sarai began in 1380 and
lasted for over twenty years. Along with local craftsmen
who carried out the construction and decoration work
there were masters brought from Khorezm and other sub-
dued countries. The Castilianambassador Claviho left

118
descriptions of Aq-Sarai in his diary as well as they were left
in the book “Babur-name“ from the beginning of the 16th
century. In the past, behind the huge portal there was a
large yard “three hundred paces“ wide. Its area is estimated
to be about 1.6 hectares. The basic layout of the palace was
similar to the one of Samarkand Djuma-Mosque. The perim-
eter of the courtyard was built up with two-storied living
quarters. Tree aivans decorated with arched portals were
built on the principal axes. The western aivan probably
served as a mosque. The southern aivan stood opposite to
the entrance portal and was Amir Temur’s reception hall.
The western may have been that pavilion for receptions and
banquets, described by Claviho. The rooms behind them
were used by the “Divan“ (State Council) during sessions. In
the middle of the garden there was a large pool with many
fountains, decorated with mosaic tiles.

119
 AQ-SARAI PALACE

The whole grandiose construction of the palace was

remarkable for its decoration. According to Claviho, masters
continued working on the decoration of Aq-Sarai during his
stay in the palace. The name of the master of facing Yusuf
Tebrizi remained on the mosaic plait of the portal. Accord-
ing to the words of Claviho, the reception halls “were paint-
ed in gold and azure blue, covered with tiles and ceilings
were all gilded“. He accepted that the job was worthy of “...
surprise, even in Paris, the town of skilled craftsmen. (Even
they) would have considered this work beautiful“. The por-
tal of the reception hall was covered with mosaic heraldic
pictures of a lion and the sun, “Samarkand Seigneur’s Bla-
zon“, and also Amir Temur’s Sign in the form of three rings.
The ambitious nature of Aq-Sarai was expressed in the per-
ished inscription at the top of the portal, which proudly
said: “If you doubt our greatness—look at our construc-

120
tions“. Aq-Sarai palace was destroyed in the second half of
the 16th century by the Sheybanids who tried to erase any
sign of the Temurids. According to a legend the main rea-
son of the destruction was the blind fury of Abdulla-khan II.
When the khan was coming to the city he saw Aq-Sarai. He
thought he was close to it and galloped. The khan drove
too hard, but did not reach Shahrisabz. The palace never
revived, and was gradually taken apart by people who used
its bricks for their houses. With Aq-Sarai’s bricks half of the
old city was built. Today there are only ruins of the grandi-
ose portal. Its lateral tower foundations stood the test of
time. The broadarchbetween the sidetowerscollapsedlong
ago.Now the towers are 38 m. high. Inside them there were
spiral stairways leading to the top part of the portal which
was trimmed with a toothed parapet.

121
122
 DOR AT-TILYAVAT. KOK-GUMBAZ
Amir Temur’s son and successor Mirzo Shahrukh (1409–
1447) moved the capital of Temurid Power from Samarkand
to Herat, which was his own since 1396. Thus the center of
state activity transferred from Maverannahr to Khurasan,
but it did not weaken the status of Kesh-Shakhrisabz as a
kin “nest“ of the ruling dynasty, the holy city of Temurid
family. Shahrukh’s son Ulugbek ordered the building of a
new cathedral mosque Kok-Gumbaz (“the Blue dome“) in
1434–1435. The mosque got that name for a huge dome,
which exceeded the size of the dome of Bibi-Khanym. It
was built on the site of an old Qarakhanid cathedral
mosque. The Temurids esteemed Shakhrisabz mosque due
to the fact that some sacred family mausoleums were
there—the remains of Sufi Sheikh Shams ad-Din Kulyal Kes-
hi, the father of Amir Temur, Muhammad Taragay and his
sons Djehangir and Umar Sheikh. In order to increase the
number of prayers, on both sides of the mosque arched
galleries with 40 domes were constructed. With the efforts
of Ulugbek, who often came to visit Kesh, around a new city
mosque arose a great religious center, known as Dor at-
Tilyavat (“the House of funeral rites“ or “the Receptacle for
Koran readers“). Alongside with the mosque and the Temu-
rid mausoleum of the 14th century, identified with Kulyal, it
contains Dor at-Tilavat madrasah and the Temurid tomb
“Makbarat of Ulugbek“ (Gumbazi Seidon). The whole com-
plex was united by a yard with hudjras and darskhana of
madrasah. In the 19th century a small minaret was built in
the yard and hudjras were erected again on the basis of the
15th century. By that time the domes of the mosque and
mausoleums had completely fallen down. Domes Kok-
Gumbaz and Gumbazi Seidon were restored in the second
half of the 20th century, and the dome of Kulyal mausoleum
in about 2000.
123
 MAUSOLEUM OF SHAMS AD-DIN KULYAL
Sheikh Kulyal belonged to the school
of “Sukhravardiyya“ and lived and
preached in Karshi and Kesh for a long
time. He enjoyed a great reputation in
Barlas’s principality and was the one
who introduced Islam to the Chagatay
tribes in the south of Maverannahr.
Sahibkiran’s father Muhammad Tara-
gay was Kulyal’s disciple, and Kulyal
naturally became a mentor to young
Temur. There is a legend saying that
sheikh Kulyal was the first to inspire
Amir Temur to become the Lord of
the World. Sheikh Kulyal did not live
up to the time when Amir Temur was
124
proclaimed Supreme Ruler, but
among the first buildings erected by
Sahibkiran after coming to power, was
the mausoleum of Kulyal in Kesh. Later
Temur’s father was reburied next to
Kulyal. The Temurid mausoleum of the
14th century near Kok-Gumbaz
mosque was identified with Sheikh
Kulyal only in the second half of the
20th century. There is no direct evi-
dence of that. By the 20th century only
the walls, some marble gravestones
and a carved wooden front door
remained, with no information about
the buried person.
 GUMBAZI SEIDON
Decorating Dor at-Tilavat memorial,
Mirzo Ulugbek erected another one
portal-domical mausoleum to the
south of Kulyal mausoleum. It was
meant for keeping dead members of
the Temurid dynasty and was named
“Makbarat of Ulugbek“. However, some
time later several religious figures
were buried there. They were some-
how connected with the life of the
Temurid dynasty and their structures
in Shahrisabz. Marble gravestones of
15th–17th centuries bear the names of
Termez seyids. Some leaders of this
well-known spiritual dynasty, moved
to Shakhrisabz in those years. Hence
the new name of the memorial—
Gumbazi Seidon (“Dome of seyids“).
The portals of the mausoleums were
also faced at that time. The interior
was decorated with murals on the
walls and dome. In the 17th century a
khanaka was built to the eastern part
of the mausoleum of 1370s. The
entrances to the mausoleums were
altered so that the passage to both
Gumbazi Seidon and khanaka was
through the old mausoleum. The
khanaka was dismantled in the middle
of the 20th century.
125
 DOR AS-SIADAT

Amir Temur‘s eldest son Djehanghir died in 1376 and Temur

decided to create a great necropolis for his family. He
chose Shahrisabz and the grandiose memorial was under
construction for 25 years next to Dor at-Tilyavat. It was
named Dor as-Siadat (“the House of Power“ or “Abode of
Might“). In this “last home“ of the Temurids Sahibkiran bur-
ied Djehanghir and his second son Omar Sheikh. Of the
whole memorial there survived only a high mausoleum
with a tent dome. The most wide-spread version connects
the safe mausoleum with Djehanghir’s name. The surveys
and archeological excavations carried out have revealed
that the mausoleum was a part of the northern pylon of a
huge arch portal, comparable in size with Aq-Sarai portal.
The southern pylon, which also had to be a mausoleum,
has not survived. The tent dome of the mausoleum hints
that the complex was built with the assistance of architects

126
and artisans from Khorezm. Its interior is decorated with
modeled stalactites and ornamental epigraphic painting.
In the memorial behind the portal there was a closed yard
on the perimeter of which the mausoleums were placed.
Some of them had underground crypts. According to
another version, the giant building is Shams ad-Din Kulyal’s
mausoleum placed in the foundation of the memorial as a
spiritual talisman of Dor as-Siadat. In “Zafar-Nameh“ Sharaf
Ali Yazdi says that when Amir Temur arrived in Kesh, he first
visited the mausoleum of sheikh Kuyal, then went to the
grave of his father. Recalling all the great mausoleums
which Amir Temur built for sheikh Ahmad Yassavi, Nur ad-
Din Basir, Burhan ad-Din Sagardji, Zayn ad-Din Kuyi Arifani,
the mausoleum of Dor as-Siadat more than the mausole-
um of Dor at-Tilyavat corresponds to the status of sheikh
Shams ad-Din Kulya memorial.
 AMIR TEMUR’ CRYPT
According to Claviho Amir Temur’s
mausoleum was built in Shahrisabz at
the beginning of the 15th century. But
instead of Shahrisabz, Sahibkiran was
buried in Gur-Emir mausoleum which
he built for his grandson in the center
of Samarkand (see Gur-Emir). But the
mausoleum in Shakhrisabz could have
survived. It was probably somewhere
within the complex of Dor as-Siadat,
which by the 20th century, had been
heavily damaged. In the middle of the
20th century archaeologists found an
underground crypt, which due to its
128
position could be the underground
part of AmirTemur’s mausoleum. It is
located on the eastern side of Dor as-
Siadat memorial on its central axis.The
underground construction has a cruci-
form structure and is faced with mar-
ble which was decorated with carved
inscriptions and cartouches. An exqui-
site stone sarcophagus stands in the
center of the tomb but contrary to tra-
dition, there is no text engraved on
the slab top. The open footings show
that there was a mausoleum with
memorial mosque above the crypt.
 HAZRETI-IMAM MOSQUE
The mosque with a winter dome and
summer aivan on wooden columns
was built on the north side of the pre-
served mausoleum of Dor as-Siadat .
This mosque was built not so long
ago—in the 19th-early 20thcenturies
and today it is one of the district
mosques of Shahrisabz. The memorial
mosque, madrasah and khanaka as
parts of the religious complex of Dor
as-Siadat could have been there in the
past. In national tradition the mauso-
leum and mosque are called Hazreti-
Imam, not linking it to a particular his-
torical person. According to one ver-
sion it could be a well-known imam of
the 9th century, Abu Abdallah Muham-
mad ibn Nasr al-Keshi, whose name is
mentioned on the carved door
installed there in the 19th century. He
was known as the author of a book of
hadiths, commentaries on the Koran,
and law writings. As it always occurred,
next to the tomb of the Imam there
arose a cultic place of Islamic tradition,
which was later used by the Temurids.
When Dor as-Siadat came to ruins, the
memory of Imam al-Keshi as a patron
of city was restored.
129
 CHORSU
A large medieval trading construction
stands in the central part of Shahrisa-
bz near the present-day city bazaar.
Chorsu is a covered market. It is locat-
ed in the place where in the Middle
Ages, the two main streets of the city
crossed, connecting the northern
gates to the southern and the western
gates to the eastern. Architecturally it
looks like Chorsu trading passage near
Registan in Samarkand and domical
trading constructions (“Toki“) in
Bukhara and Khiva. They were to cre-
ate a shopping area protected from
130
the sun and rain. Chorsu in Shakhrisa-
bz, as well as all the market buildings
in other cities was built of burnt brick
without decorative furnish. The cen-
tral octagonal hall of the market is
covered with a high dome. Four corri-
dors going from the high dome are
covered with small domes. The
entrances to all four sides have portals.
All of them were open for buyers in
the past. The construction of Shahrisa-
bz Chorsu dates back to the 17th–18th
centuries.
MALIK-ADJAR MOSQUE
Malik-Adjar is situated among apart-
ment houses in the northwestern part
of Shakhrisabz’s historical center.
According to a legend it arose near a
tomb of the Arabian commander
Mali-Adjar who took part in the con-
quest of Kesh with Caliphate troops in
the 8th century. The type of portal,
flanked by three-quarter cylindrical
columns with little fluted domes, and
the painted ceilings of the aivans
makes it very close to Hazret-Hyzr
mosque, madrasah and mosques of
Rukhabad in Samarkand. Then it can
probably be dated to the 19th century,
being the last building in the place
where a mosque stood a thousand
years ago. Along the perimeter of the
Malik-Adjar mosque there are hudjras,
covered with small domes, showing
that in the past the mosque acted as
madrasah. Malik-Adjar has a classical
composition of Islamic cultic construc-
tion. It symbolizes basic elements of
the universe: the terrestrial house for
praying, the greens of the trees, the
water of the “hauz“, the domegoing to
the sky, the columns of the aivan and
a minaret.
131
 CITY WALLS
Amir Temur made Shakhrisabz (Kesh) a
city-fortress, protected by high walls
made of clay and mud bricks. A very
minor portion of them have been pre-
served. But even that small part allows
us to say that they were equal to the
walls of Ichan-Qala and Bukhara Ark
citadel. The walls were 8–9 m. thick (at
the bottom) and 11 m. high. In every
50 m. of the walls there were erected
semi-cylindrical towers (burdjs). Under
them there was dug a deep ditch
filled with water. From the inner side
132
defenders climbed the crest of the
wall by stairs. Four gates led to the
city: Northern—Samarkand, West-
ern—Bukhara, southern—Charymgar,
western—Kukchikar. Each of the gates
was a small fortress equipped with a
drawbridge over the moat. The wall of
the city withstood many sieges and
retained its military importance up
until the 18th–19th centuries, when
Shakhrisabz rulers conducted numer-
ous wars against Bukhara amirs.
 CHUBIN MADRASAH
The old Chubin madrasah stands in
the northern part of Shakhrisabz at
the beginning of a large square, lead-
ing to the Amir Temur monument and
the towers of Aq-Sarai portal. This is
the largest city madrasah. It was built
of burnt brick at the end of the 17th
century and it is made up of a
mosque (khanaka), classrooms (dar-
skhana) and hudjras for pupils. The
mosque and darskhana are covered
by large domes, the hudjras by small
domes. The madrasah’s interiors are
decorated with ganch. Chubin was
restored in 1994–1996. Today it is the
Shakhrisabz museum of history. The
exhibits have been collected for the
last one and half centuries, including
those from archeological excavations.
A large model of the city in the time of
Temurids is in one of the rooms.
Among the unique exhibits is a14th
century carved wooden door from
Dor at-Tilyavat complex. Another relic
find of the museum is an early medie-
val Zoroastrian ossuary, found near
Shakhrisabz. It depicts scenes illustrat-
ing the stories of “Avesta“.
 KATTA-LYANGAR

Ensemble Katta-Lyangar, unusual for mountain areas of

Uzbekistan, is situated 60 km to the south from Shakhrisabz. It
was built in the middle of a narrow gorge, Kok-Su, in Lyangar
cai valley and consists of a mosque and Lyangar-ata mausole-
um. In the mausoleum there were buried sheikhs from a very
influential 15th–16th century Sufi community, “Ishkiya“ (from
“ishq“—“all-encompassing love to God, which leads a Sufi
along his mystical path“). In the second half of the 15th centu-
ry at the Temurids’ courts the dominant influence was occu-
pied by the brotherhood “Naqshbandiyya“, with whom the
“Ishkiya“ Sufis were rivals. Then, pressed by the authorities, the
“Ishkiya“ community moved out of Samarkand to a remote
mountain area. At the beginning of the 16th century, when
Sheybanids took Temurid’s power, they, by contrast, harassed
“Naqshbandiyya “ and supported “Ishkiya.“ At that time the
head of “Ishkiya“ was sheikh Muhammad Sodik (died in 1545),
who was called Lyangar-ata. Langar means “anchor“, “stop“,
134
the name which is often used to refer to a Central Asian
holy person’s burial place (“last stop“). During the life of
sheikh Muhammad Sodik in a mountain village there was
built a large mosque and a mausoleum on the opposite hill.
Sodik’s father found his last repose there as well as former
community leader, Sheikh Abu-l-Hasan Kalan. Later sheikh
Muhammad and his son were buried there. Standing on a
high hill, Lyangar-ata mausoleum is visible from everywhere
and looks like an unearthly “space“ object. Katta-Lyangar
mosque faces the western wall of the mausoleum. Lyang-
ar’s community of “Ishkiya“ kept a unique manuscript of the
Koran (8th century) and the legendary Khirka (raincoat) of
the Prophet Muhammad. The khirka was taken away when
Afghans invaded the city in the middle of the 18th century
and was kept in mausoleum of Ahmad-shah Durrani in
Kandagar.

135
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 Historical Monuments of Uzbekistan
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