Content of Bukhara History

From the history of the city
Fortifications
The Ark citadel and Registan
Western Section of the modern city
The city and the epoch
Trade cross-roads
Kosh-Medresseh. A Dialogue of the epoch
Subterranean and other mosques
In the eastern part of the city
Suburban Ensembles
In the Bukhara Oasis

In the eastern part of the city

On open ground behind Labi-hauz in the north-eastern part of the city stands an unusual monument - "Chor-Minor" (meaning "four minarets"). It is the only serving part of a large madrasah built by a rich Turkmen, Khalif Niyaz-kul. Chor-Minor is a gatehouse-"darvazakhana". Inside, to the right of the entrance, there is an inscription in the form of quatrain, mentioning the date of construction - 1807. The building is two-storeyed, with a hexahedral room opened on four sides on the ground floor, and a square room on the first floor, giving access into four minaretsm towering at the corners of darvazakhana and crowned with small blue domes. Chor-Minor was very picturesque before restoration when storks built numerous nests on all its four domes.

In the outskirts of the old part of the city, to the north-east of Chor-Minor, is located one of the most noble-looking monuments in Bukhara - the Faizabad khana-gah (dervishes´ hostel built in 1598-99). Its layout is impressive and well-balanced: the spacious central hall is flanked on both sides by vaulted galleries, and the main portal, as well as the wall behind the mihrab, house three tiers of cells giving temporary refuge to dervishes. The interior of the central hall where rites were performed, is especially beautiful. The octahedral tier of sails under the dome is concealed by netted decor. Thirty two small arches bring the sails down to a polyhedral frieze painted dark-blue on white background, with flat cellular stalactite descending onto a snow-white cornice-"sharafa". This refind composition is crowned with a cupola, all covered with an intricate vegetable pattern in the "kyrma" technique: a carved layer of "gulganch" (white stucco) against the background of grey stucco. Laconic architectural forms and graphical design make this building a masterpiece of the 16th century architecture.

In the suburbs of Fathabad, to the east of the medieval city, there are remnants of a once grandiose riual ensemble, built around the grave of a popular sheikh, poet and theologian Saif ed-Din Bokharzi, who lived in 1190-1262. A whole district was occupied by khana-gah, hostels for the poor and the sick where they were kept on the money bequeathed by rich philanthropists. Next to the shrine, the Buyan-Kuli-Khan mausoleum was erected on the site of the ancient burial vault. They form a unique ensemble. Buyna-Kuliwas a Mongolian khan who ruled Maverannahr in the middle of the 14th century, was killed in 1358 during a popular uprising in Samarkand and buried in a mausoleum, 11 x 10 meters, is justly recognized as a masterpiece of Central Asian architecture of the tome when its culture only began to revive after the devastation of the 13th century. Its architectural solution was quite new for that time, it is one of the earliest examples of two-chamber mausoleums in Central Asia.

The prismatic volume of the mausoleum contains two premises: a dome-topped hall for funeral rites-ziyaret-khana, and a dark and low burial vault behind it, flanked by corridors, like in Buddhist temples - another survival of pre-Islamic forms in medieval architecture. The decoration of the mausoleum is unique: inside and outside it is faced by carved and glazed terra-cotta and varicolored tiles of the hues characteristic of the middle of the 14th century: turquoise-blue, moderate black manganese, white and dark-blue. There, majolica is older than in the early mausoleums of the Shakhi-Zinda necropolis in Samarkand, vying with the best of them. The platform on which the mausoleum stands is faced with twin bricks with glazed blue "bow" insets on vertical walls. The top surface of the platform is paved with hexahedral blocks in rectangular framing.

Abutting upon the platform is the foundation of the Said ed-Din Bokharzi mausoleum built on the site of an earlier burial place. It is also a two-chamber monument, with a stepped body, corresponding to the dome-topped halls inside: the larger one- ziyaretkhana (with a square side of 12.1m), and the smaller one - gurkhana (9.5m). The portal in ziyaretkhana was built in the 16th century. The monument is a product of the epoch when the architecture of many-chamber mausoleums was at its peak. However, its interior is decorated in such an archaic style, that for a long time it was referred to the 13th century: its corner arches and outhangs of the domes were filled with long clusters of cellular stalactites and terraced gradually receding frames. This impressive imitation of the older style was done skillfully, with a keen sence of proportion, in expressive and rich forms. On the carved wooden tomb slab found in the burial vault under the gurkhana, were indicated the dates of birth and death of the popular sheikh who had survived the Mongolian invasion. A fragment of the tomb slab is exhibited at a branch of the Bukhara History Museum housed in the residence of the last Bukhara emir- the Sitorai-Mokhi-Khosa palace, 4 km to the north from the city.