Things to do in Bukhara
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Lyabi-Hauz
Lyabi-Hauz, a plaza built around a pool in 1620 (the name is Tajik for 'around the pool'), is the most peaceful and interesting spot in town - shaded by mulberry trees as old as the pool. The old tea-sipping, chessboard-clutching Uzbek men who once inhabited this corner of town have been moved on by local entrepreneurs bent on cashing in on the tourist trade. Still, the plaza maintains its old-world style and has managed to fend off the glitz to which Samarkand's Registan has succumbed.
On the east side is a statue of Hoja Nasruddin, a semimythical 'wise fool' who appears in Sufi teaching-tales around the world.
Further east, the Nadir Divanbegi Medressa was built as a car…
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Tim Abdulla Khan
For carpets, you couldn't ask for a better shopping atmosphere than at the silk weaving and carpet centre in the late 16th-century Tim Abdulla Khan, near Taqi-Telpaq Furushon Bazaar (a tim was a general market). They are not pushy and will openly inform you on what's handmade and what's machine-made. You can watch silk-carpet weavers in action here.
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The Ark
The Ark, a royal town-within-a-town, is Bukhara's oldest structure, occupied from the 5th century right up until 1920, when it was bombed by the Red army. It's about 80% ruins inside now, except for some remaining royal quarters, now housing several museums.
At the top of the entrance ramp is the 17th-century Juma (Friday) Mosque. Turn right into a corridor with courtyards off both sides. First on the left are the former living quarters of the emir's kushbegi (prime minister), now housing an exhibit on archaeological finds around Bukhara.
Second on the left is the oldest surviving part of the Ark, the vast Reception & Coronation Court, whose roof fell in during the 1920 bo…
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Kalon Minaret
When it was built by the Karakhanid ruler Arslan Khan in 1127, the Kalon Minaret was probably the tallest building in Central Asia - kalon means 'great' in Tajik. It's an incredible piece of work, 47m tall with 10m-deep foundations (including reeds stacked underneath in an early form of earthquake-proofing), which in 850 years has never needed any but cosmetic repairs. Jenghiz Khan was so dumbfounded by it that he ordered it spared.
Its 14 ornamental bands, all different, include the first use of the glazed blue tiles that were to saturate Central Asia under Timur. Up and down the south and east sides are faintly lighter patches, marking the restoration of damage caused b…
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Maghoki-Attar
Between the two covered bazaars Taqi-Sarrafon and Taqi-Telpak Furushon, in what was the old herb and spice bazaar, is Central Asia's oldest surviving mosque, the Maghoki-Attar, a lovely mishmash of 9th-century façade and 16th-century reconstruction. This is probably also the town's holiest spot: under it in the 1930s archaeologists found bits of a 5th-century Zoroastrian temple ruined by the Arabs, and an earlier Buddhist temple.
Until the 16th century, Bukhara's Jews are said to have used the mosque in the evenings as a synagogue.
Only the top of the mosque was visible when the digging began; the present plaza surrounding it is the 12th-century level of the town. A secti…
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Faizullah Khojaev House
Faizullah Khojaev House was once home to one of Bukhara's many infamous personalities, the man who plotted with the Bolsheviks to dump Emir Alim Khan. Faizullah Khojaev was rewarded with the presidency of the Bukhara People's Republic, chairmanship of the Council of People's Commissars of the Uzbek SSR, and finally liquidation by Stalin.
The house was built in 1891 by his father, Ubaidullah, a wealthy merchant. Faizullah Khojaev lived here until 1925, when the Soviets converted it into a school. Slow restoration of the elegant frescoes, ghanch, latticework and Bukhara-style ceiling beams (carved, unpainted elm) has been going on for years. Call ahead to book an English g…
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Ismail Samani Mausoleum
This mausoleum in Samani Park, completed in 905, is the town's oldest Muslim monument and probably its sturdiest architecturally. Built for Ismail Samani (the Samanid dynasty's founder), his father and grandson, its intricate baked terracotta brickwork - which gradually changes 'personality' through the day as the shadows shift - disguises walls almost 2m thick, helping it survive without restoration (except of the spiked dome) for 11 centuries.
Behind the park is one of the few remaining, eroded sections (a total of 2km out of an original 12km) of the Shaybanid town walls; another big section is about 500m west of the Namozgokh Mosque.
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Saifuddin Bukharzi Mausoleum
Two kilometres east of the centre on Bakhautdin Naqshband, the mammary-like twin domes of the Saifuddin Bukharzi Mausoleum tower over the delicate little Buyan Khuli Khan Mausoleum. With sheep grazing in the foreground and a massive cooking-oil factory looming in the background, this spot might as well be a metaphor for Central Asia. Taxi drivers know this place as 'Rayon Fatobod Bogi'.
The architectural highlight here is the 14th-century majolica on the smaller mausoleum, resting place of a Mongol khan. The larger mausoleum was built over the grave of Saifuddin Bukharzi (1190-1261), poet founder of an influential Sufi order.
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Museum of Wood Carvings
The highlight of the Abdul Aziz Khan Medressa (Taqi-Zargaron Area) is the prayer room, now a museum of wood carvings, with spectacular original ghanch work. It is said that Abdul Aziz had the image of his face covertly embedded in the prayer room's mihrab (Mecca-facing niche) to get around the Sunni Muslim prohibition against depicting living beings (Adul Aziz Khan was a Shiite).
Also flouting that prohibition was the stork who used to live in the nest on the tower to the left of the medressa's pishtak. The only other medressa in town that depicts living beings is the Nadir Divanbegi Medressa.
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Mir-i-Arab Medressa
Opposite the Kalon Mosque, its luminous blue domes in sharp contrast to the surrounding brown, is the working Mir-i-Arab Medressa. Especially at sunset, it's among Uzbekistan's most striking medressas, but tourists can only go as far as the foyer. From there you may peer through a grated door into the courtyard, where you might see students playing ping-pong.
The medressa is named for a 16th-century Naqshbandi sheikh from Yemen who had a strong influence on the Shaybanid ruler Ubaidullah Khan and financed the original complex. Both khan and sheikh are buried beneath the northern dome.
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Ulugbek Medressa
A few steps east of the Taqi-Zargaron Bazaar, on the north side of Hoja Nurabad, is Central Asia's oldest medressa, and a model for many others - the unrestored, blue-tiled Ulugbek Medressa, one of three built by Ulugbek (the others are at Gijduvan, 45km away on the road to Samarkand, and in Samarkand's Registan complex).
Today it's occupied by pigeons and a small museum with some great old photos, including one of the Kalon Minaret looking the worse for wear after the Soviets bombed it in the 1920s. Peeking into the cool, abandoned student rooms here is a real treat.
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Puppet Performance
Bukhara's old town is eerily silent by night, which is part of its charm, but there are several early evening entertainment options. A favourite is the puppet performance, held at a theatre on the western end of Lyabi-Hauz. The three-part amateur performance, with a traditional wedding ceremony as the usual theme, is held in Tajik, Uzbek and English.
The show is staged mainly for the tour-bus crowd but individuals can piggyback; shows are often cancelled if there are no tour groups in town.
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Covered Bazaars
From Shaybanid times, the area west and north from Lyabi-Hauz was a vast warren of market lanes, arcades and crossroad minibazaars whose multidomed roofs were designed to draw in cool air. Three remaining domed bazaars, heavily renovated in Soviet times, were among dozens of specialised bazaars in the town - Taqi-Sarrafon (moneychangers), Taqi-Telpak Furushon (cap makers) and Taqi-Zargaron (jewellers). They remain only loosely faithful to those designations today.
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Folklore and Fashion Show
Across Lyabi-Hauz in the Nadir Divanbegi Medressa, the nightly folklore and fashion show, with traditional musical performances and dancing. Do not book this through Uzbektourism or you may be forced to buy the dinner at a premium; book at the gate or through the Tourist Information Centre instead.
The show is staged mainly for the tour-bus crowd but individuals can piggyback; shows are often cancelled if there are no tour groups in town.
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Turki Jandi mausoleum
Deep in the old town is the tiny, decrepit Turki Jandi mausoleum favoured for getting one's prayers answered. It's the resting place of a holy man known as Turki Jandi, his two sons, several grandsons and numerous other relations. Its importance is signalled by the hundreds of other graves around it - allegedly in stacks 30m deep! It's under slow, devoted restoration and was closed when we visited.
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Chashma Ayub 'mausoleum'
Nearby Ismail Samani Mausoleum in Samani Park, is the peculiar Chashma Ayub 'mausoleum', built from the 12th to 16th centuries over a spring. The name means 'Spring of Job'; legend says Job struck his staff on the ground here and a spring appeared. Inside you can drink from the spring. It is now, sadly, overshadowed by a glistening new glass-walled memorial to Imam Ismail al-Bukhari next door.
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Char Minar
Photogenic little Char Minar, in a maze of alleys between Pushkin and Hoja Nurabad, bears more relation to Indian styles than to anything Bukharan. This was the gatehouse of a long-gone medressa built in 1807. The name means 'Four Minarets' in Tajik, although they aren't strictly minarets but simply decorative towers. Unesco restored one collapsed tower and fixed another in 1998.
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Water Tower
Beside Bolo-Hauz Mosque (opposite the Ark) is a now-disused 33m water tower , built by the Russians in 1927. If you are going to climb this, you best not be afraid of heights or rickety-looking Soviet structures. The views of the Ark and beyond are worth the sum1000 demanded by the local shepherd or whoever else is around.
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Kalon Mosque
At the foot of the Kalon Minaret, on the site of an earlier mosque destroyed by Jenghiz Khan, is the 16th-century congregational Kalon Mosque, big enough for 10,000 people. Used in Soviet times as a warehouse, it was reopened as a place of worship in 1991.
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Suzani & Textiles
Serious suzani and textile collectors should head to Akhbar House for a glimpse of owner Akhbar's fantastic collection. Much of it isn't even for sale but he may even be willing to part with gems from his personal collection for the right price.
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Zindon
Behind the Ark is Zindon, the jail, now a museum. Cheerful attractions include a torture chamber and several dungeons, including the gruesome 'bug pit' where Stoddart and Conolly languished in a dark chamber filled with lice, scorpions and other vermin.
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Abdul Aziz Khan Medressa
The student rooms (across from Ulugbek Medressa) at the 16th-century Abdul Aziz Khan Medressa are occupied, rather typically, by souvenir shops. This is another unrestored gem, built by its namesake to outdo the Ulugbek Medressa in size and splendour.
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Unesco Carpet Weaving Shop
You can watch silk-carpet weavers in action at Unesco Carpet Weaving Shop. It no longer has anything to do with Unesco (which helped them launch in 2001), but uniquely produces only Bukhara designs. Call ahead to book a tour in English.
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Medressas
Southeast of Samani Park are two massive medressas, one named for the great Shaybanid ruler Abdulla Khan, and one for his mother called Modari Khan (mother of the khan). The latter is locked, the former contains yet more crafts shops.
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Museum of Art
Museum of Art has mostly 20th-century paintings by Bukharan artists, some of which can be purchased in a gallery on the ground floor. It's in the former headquarters of the Russian Central Asian Bank (1912).
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