Things to do in Central Uzbekistan
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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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Registan
This ensemble of majestic, tilting medressas - a near-overload of majolica, azure mosaics and vast, well-proportioned spaces - is the centrepiece of the city, and one of the most awesome single sights in Central Asia. The Registan, which translates to 'Sandy Place' in Tajik, was medieval Samarkand's commercial centre and the plaza was probably a wall-to-wall bazaar.
The three grand edifices here are among the world's oldest preserved medressas, anything older having been destroyed by Jenghiz Khan. They have taken their knocks over the years courtesy of the frequent earthquakes that buffet the region; that they are still standing is a testament to the incredible craftsmans…
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Guri Amir Mausoleum
Timur, two sons and two grandsons, including Ulugbek, lie beneath the surprisingly modest Guri Amir Mausoleum and its trademark fluted azure dome. Timur had built a simple crypt for himself at Shakhrisabz, and had this one built in 1404 for his grandson and proposed heir, Mohammed Sultan, who had died the previous year.
But the story goes that when Timur died unexpectedly of pneumonia in Kazakhstan (in the course of planning an expedition against the Chinese) in the winter of 1405, the passes back to Shakhrisabz were snowed in and he was interred here instead. As with other Muslim mausoleums, the stones are just markers; the actual crypts are in a chamber beneath. In the …
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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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Shah-i-Zinda
Its shiny restoration in 2005 has been called an abomination by some, but the Shah-i-Zinda remains Samarkand's most moving sight. The name, which means 'Tomb of the Living King', refers to its original, innermost and holiest shrine - a complex of cool, quiet rooms around what is probably the grave of Qusam ibn-Abbas, a cousin of the Prophet Mohammed who is said to have brought Islam to this area in the 7th century.
A shrine to Qusam existed here on the edge of Afrosiab long before the Mongols ransacked it in the 13th century. Shah-i-Zinda began to assume its current form in the 14th century as Timur and later Ulugbek buried their family and favourites near the Living King…
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Bibi-Khanym Mosque
The enormous congregational Bibi-Khanym Mosque, northeast of the Registan, was finished shortly before Timur's death and must have been the jewel of his empire. Once one of the Islamic world's biggest mosques (the main gate alone was 35m high), it pushed construction techniques to the limit. Slowly crumbling over the years, it finally collapsed in an earthquake in 1897. Part of the mosque is Bibi-Khanym's own compact 14th-century mausoleum.
Legend says that Bibi-Khanym, Timur's Chinese wife, ordered the mosque built as a surprise while he was away. The architect fell madly in love with her and refused to finish the job unless he could give her a kiss. The smooch left a m…
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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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Tilla-Kari (Gold-Covered) Medressa
In between Ulugbek Medressa and the Sher Dor (Lion) Medressa is the Tilla-Kari (Gold-Covered) Medressa, completed in 1660, with a pleasant, gardenlike courtyard. The highlight here is the mosque, intricately decorated with gold to symbolize Samarkand's wealth at the time it was built. The mosque's delicate ceiling, oozing gold leaf, is flat but its tapered design makes it look domed from the inside.
Many of the medressas' former dormitory rooms are now art and souvenir shops. In the high season a variety of traditional shows are put on for tourists in the Sher Dor courtyard, including mock Uzbek weddings and kurash, a form of Uzbek wrestling. There are also tacky evening …
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Afrosiab Museum
At a 2.2-sq-km site called Afrosiab, northeast of the bazaar, are excavations of Marakanda (early Samarkand) more or less abandoned to the elements. The Afrosiab Museum leads the visitor through the 11 layers of civilisation that is Afrosiab. From the museum, walk 1km north to the current excavation site where you may find weather-beaten archaeologists picking coins out of the dust.
The best way to reach Afrosiab is on foot. Cross the intersection north of Bibi-Khanym and follow pedestrian Tashkent kochasi for about 1km to the Afrosiab Museum; Ulugbek's observatory is 1.5km beyond that. If it's too hot to walk, marshrutka 17 from the Registan takes an 8km detour via the 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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Ulugbek Medressa
Ulugbek Medressa on the west side is the original medressa, finished in 1420 under Ulugbek (who is said to have taught mathematics there; other subjects included theology, astronomy and philosophy). Beneath the little corner domes were lecture halls, and at the rear a large mosque. About 100 students lived in the two storeys of dormitory cells here.
Many of the medressas' former dormitory rooms are now art and souvenir shops. In the high season a variety of traditional shows are put on for tourists in the Sher Dor courtyard, including mock Uzbek weddings and kurash, a form of Uzbek wrestling. There are also tacky evening sound-and-light shows put on for tour groups in the…
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Sher Dor (Lion) Medressa
The entrance portal of the Sher Dor (Lion) Medressa, opposite Ulugbek's and finished in 1636, is decorated with roaring felines that look like tigers but are meant to be lions, flouting Islamic prohibitions against the depiction of live animals. It took 17 years to build but still hasn't held up as well as the Ulugbek Medressa, built in just three years.
Many of the medressas' former dormitory rooms are now art and souvenir shops. In the high season a variety of traditional shows are put on for tourists in the Sher Dor courtyard, including mock Uzbek weddings and kurash, a form of Uzbek wrestling. There are also tacky evening sound-and-light shows put on for tour groups i…
reviewed
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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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International Museum of Peace and Solidarity
The quirky International Museum of Peace and Solidarity used to occupy a building in central Navoi Park, but the building was demolished in 2006 to pave the way for park renovations. The museum should have a new home by the time you read this. Curator Anatoly Ionesov has a remarkable collection of disarmament and environmental memorabilia and has collected thousands of signatures, including some very famous ones, in the name of peace.
Samarkand's Russified downtown area tends to escape tourists' radar, which is unfortunate because it's quite un-Sovietised and charming. Gussied-up locals stroll along Navoi (formerly Leninskaya) kochasi, a sight that would have Lenin rollin…
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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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Tomb of the Old Testament Prophet Daniel
The restored Tomb of the Old Testament Prophet Daniel is 400m northeast of the Afrosiab Museum, on the banks of the Siob River (turn left off Tashkent kochasi just before the bridge). The building is a long, low structure topped with five domes, containing an 18m sarcophagus - legend has it that Daniel's body grows by half an inch a year and thus the sarcophagus has to be enlarged.
His remains, which date to at least the 5th century BC, were brought here for good luck by Timur from Susa, Iran (suspiciously, an alleged tomb of Daniel can also be found in Susa).
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State Art Museum
Samarkand's largest museum walks you through the history of art in the region, starting with archaeological finds from Afrosiab and the Timurid era. The highlight is probably the decorative and applied arts exhibits upstairs, which include an impressive collection of old carpets - including some splendid 200-year-old Afghan and Persian specimens - prayer rugs, nuptial sheets and suzani.
Downstairs are some interesting photos of Samarkand 100 years ago and a quirky collection of Qurans that includes one of the world's largest (1m by 1½m).
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Ulugbek's Observatory
Continuing north you'll encounter the remains of Ulugbek's Observatory, one of the great archaeological finds of the 20th century. Ulugbek was probably more famous as an astronomer than as a ruler. His 30m astrolab, designed to observe star positions, was part of a three-storey observatory he built in the 1420s. All that remains is the instrument's curved track, unearthed in 1908.
The small on-site museum has some miniatures depicting Ulugbek and a few old ceramics and other artifacts unearthed in Afrosiab.
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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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