23 May Bukhara

We started the morning going by car to the Chor Bakr Mausoleum, which is dedicated to some descendents of the Prophet, and Leslie was criticized by a local lady for being short-sleeved, instead of having her usual extensive cover. It was hot, and she had not expected to be out of town and off the tourist trail! We were then dropped at Ismael Samani Mausoleum, and did not take our water because we thought we would return to the car. Three hours later the guide informed us that we were walking from here on, and that the car had been released for the day! We had to walk through the town and back to our hotel, so we had a minor revolt, and the guide bought us some more water.

We then enjoyed looking at the various monuments, checking out the craft shops, and enjoying this remarkable and pleasant old city, as below:

Ismail Samani Mausolem
In Samani Park is the town's oldest monument (completed about 905 AD) and one of the most elegant structures in Central Asia, the mausoleum of Ismail Samani (the Samanid Dynasty's founder), his father and grandson. Its delicate baked terra cotta brickwork gradually change 'personality' through the day as the shadows shift and disguise walls almost two meters thick, which helped it survive without restoration for almost 11 centuries. The bricks predate the art of majolica tiles (think blue tiles). Though dating from early Islamic times, the building bears Zoroastrian symbols such as the circle in nested squares symbolizing eternity placed above the door. Genghis Khan overlooked it because it was mostly buried, but he destroyed the rest of the city except the Kalan minaret.

Detail inside Ismail Samani Mausolem

The Ark
This royal town-within-a-town is Bukhara's oldest structure, occupied from the 5th to 20th century. It's walls are still impressive.

Outer wall near Ark

Ark Bukhara enterance

In 1920 the Red Army partly destroyed it by bombing. Bits of it may go back two millennium, though the present crumbling walls are probably less than 300 years old. It has about 75% ruins inside except for some remaining royal quarters, now housing a multi-branched museum.
The oldest surviving part of the Ark is the vast Reception hall and Coronation Court, whose roof fell during the 1920 bombardment. The last coronation to take place here was Alim Khan's in 1910. A submerged chamber along the right wall was the treasury, and behind this was the Harem.

Kalan Minaret
Built by Karakhan ruler Arslan Khan in 1127, the Kalan minaret was probably the tallest structure in Central Asia (Kalon means 'great' in Tajik). It's an incredible piece of work, 47 meters tall with 10 meter deep foundations (reeds stacked underneath provided an early form of earthquake-proofing), and has never required any but cosmetic repairs for the last 900 years. Ghengis Khan was so dumbfounded when he saw it

Kalan Minaret

that he ordered it spared. It was also used as a beacon and watchtower, and the Manghit Emirs threw criminals off it for execution until forbidden by the Russians. Its 14 ornamental bands, all different, include the first use of the glazed blue tiles that were to saturate Central Asia under Timur two centuries later. The south and east sides contain faintly lighter patches, marking the restoration of damage by Frunze's Russian artillery in 1920.

Mir-i-Arab Madressa
This was a working Muslim seminary from the 16th century until it was closed by Soviet authorities in 1920, but it was subsequently reopened by Stalin in 1944 in an effort to get Muslim support for the war effort. It was Central Asian's only functioning madressah in Soviet times. Today 250 young men, mostly from Uzbekistan, enroll for five years from age 18 years to study Arabic, the Quran and Islamic law. Classes are now held in the Kalan mosque, with Mir-i-Arab serving mainly as dormitories. The madressa is named for a 16th century Naqshbandi shiekh from Yemen who had a strong influence on the Sheybanid ruler Ubaidullah Khan. Both Khan and his teacher are buried beneath the northern dome.

Madrassah Ulugbek
The Ulugbek Madrassah in Bukhara was founded in 1417, and was built before Ulugbeg's built his madrasah in Samarkand. There is a name of the master builder in the portal tympanum, Ismail ibn Takhir ibn Makhmud Ispfargoni. It is possible he was a grandson of one of the masters who had been captured by Timur in Iran and left their names on the portal of Gur-Amir complex in Samarkand.


Labi Hauz (around the lake) is a peaceful spot, shaded by mulberry trees as old as the pool and peopled with street-sellers, crazies, old men hunched over chessboards or gossiping over tea, and anyone else with nowhere to go. On the east side is a statue of Hoja Nasrudin, a mythical 'wise fool' who appears in Sufi teaching tales throughout the Muslim world. Nearby is the Nadir Divanbegi madressa which was built as a caravan serai, but the Khan converted it into a madressa in 1630 AD. On the west side of the square, and built at the same time, is the Nadir Divanbegi Khanaka. Both are named for Abdul Aziz Khan's treasure minister, who financed them in the 17th century. North across the street, the Kukeldash madressa, built by Abdullah Khan II, was at the time the biggest Islamic school in Central Asia.

Many of the madrasahs and caravan-Sarai's are being used as boutiques, restaurants, artisan's workshops, and even wine bars. We browsed and considered possible purchases, each of us looking at our own craft interests. David purchased a hand-crafted Damascus steel knife from a metal shop, after much bargaining, as

well as a special pair of scissors on which he had Leslie's name engraved.. We ordered some Ikat cushion covers to be made and delivered to the hotel later in the evening. Leslie looked at a couple of old Ikat outer robes but was put off by the cheap cotton fabric on the inside. She wanted to see Akthar's collection to compare it with what we had seen in the shops.

Learning about textiles at Akthar's

Our guide has been on the verge of being fired so many times that we are starting to direct our program more ourselves. Leslie has been researching tile techniques and also textiles, particularly where textile tours visit. One place mentioned is Akthar's.

Interesting Islamic symbol

We had Faizola call Akthar's and arrange for us to see him at 5pm. Akthar's has a small hotel in which the front lobby is filled with his textile collection as well as some items he has for sale. He was one of the first antique dealers in the area for various items but his heart is obviously in textiles. We both enjoyed the information he shared with us through our guides poor translation. We know there was much more information to be had but the limitation is our guide's English.

We had dinner at a local restaurant in an old home. All the tour companies seem to organize fixed menus at the various places. These are usually starter, soup, main course and dessert. We have not been raving about the food as you may have noted. A vegetarian would have a hard time, as would someone avoiding wheat, as bread is the main staple here.

After dinner we went to a wine bar to sample the local Bukhara wine. The Sommelier had been to France and had a certificate of her graded work there. She advised us that a couple of the wines had a gold medal.....further research adds it was for an Asian competition. We headed back to our hotel Asia Bukhara which was a decent air-conditioned hotel owned by the President's daughter.