What are the most beautiful places in Bukhara?

On our list, Samanid Mausoleum ranks first, followed by Bolo Haouz Mosque and Po-i-Kalyan.

Why did Genghis Khan spare the Kalyan Minaret?

According to a famous legend, Genghis Khan was so impressed by the minaret when he took Bukhara in 1220 that he ordered it spared while much of the city was destroyed. The story is legend rather than recorded fact, but the minaret did survive.

How old is the Samanid Mausoleum?

The Samanid Mausoleum was built in the early tenth century as the tomb of the Samanid dynasty. It is one of the oldest surviving Islamic monuments in Central Asia.

What does Chor Minor mean?

Chor Minor means four minarets in Persian. The building's four towers were in fact not used as minarets but formed the gatehouse of a madrasa.

What kinds of places are there to see in Bukhara?

In our collection, the places in Bukhara are most often mosques (3), mausoleums (1), forts (1) and fortresses (1).

The 5 Most Beautiful Places in Bukhara

Bukhara grew as an oasis on the lower Zarafshan, where the river's water allowed a city to flourish on the Silk Road between Persia, India and China. Under the Samanids in the ninth and tenth centuries it became one of the great centres of learning in the Islamic world, and later dynasties kept rebuilding it in fired brick and glazed tile. Its old town preserves an unusually complete medieval Central Asian city, with mosques, madrasas, caravan routes and a citadel still in their places.

The Samanid Mausoleum, from the early tenth century, is one of the oldest surviving monuments of Islamic architecture in Central Asia, a small domed cube whose walls are woven entirely from brick laid in patterns that change with the light. The Kalyan Minaret, the core of the Po-i-Kalyan ensemble, has risen above the city since the twelfth century, banded in ornamental brick, and stands between a great Friday mosque and a madrasa with turquoise domes.

The Ark, a massive fortress on an artificial mound, was the residence of Bukhara's rulers for centuries, its sloping walls rising sharply above the square. The Bolo Haouz Mosque faces a pool with a high porch carried on slender carved wooden columns that are mirrored in the water. Chor Minor, built at the start of the nineteenth century as the gatehouse of a vanished madrasa, carries four small towers topped with blue domes, each decorated differently.