Poyi -Kalon Ensemble

On the way to the main shopping street, the intersection of the old town - "shakhristan" formed the central architectural ensemble of Bukhara, which forms its unique silhouette - a complex Poi Kalon, which means "Base of the Great", refers to the base of the great minaret Kalon. It is an ancient historical site. To the south of the Ark fortress, traditionally, from the VIII century, over and over again built, crumbled, rebuilt after fires and wars, moving from place to place, building the main mosque of the city. The last such building prior to the current Kalon Mosque, this place was built in 1121 by Karakhanids ruler Arslan Khan.

In the XII century, Arslan Khan planned a grandiose reconstruction of the city: it parses the City Palace, who was on the street Boo-Lyays, recreates the citadel, which has turned to this time in the ruins of the city and carries a mosque. The new mosque is built around one hundred fifty meters to the south-east of the citadel, and when it is being built minaret. The minaret was, according to Narshahi "nicely done", but was built precariously. Immediately upon completion of construction of the mosque minaret falls, and two-thirds of its ruins. In 1121, Arslan Khan concludes a new mosque, and in 1127 - and the minaret, has come down to our days. The mosque was burned during the siege of Bukhara hordes of Genghis Khan. From the ensemble of the XII century now preserved majestic minaret, built in front of the main facade of the not preserved mosque of Arslan Khan.

Kalon Minaret

The dominant of the ensemble - Minaret Kalon (or Minorai Kalon) - prevailing over the city a giant tower. The value of this minaret went far beyond the practical purpose: to Proclamation call to prayer was enough to climb the roof of the mosque pas, as it did in the first centuries after the establishment of Islam. Later it was used for the tower of Roman temples, the bell tower of the Christian churches, Zoroastrian "tower of fire" and other vertical structures, various types are developed in different nations of the world long before Islam. The word "minaret" is derived from the Arabic "minor" that "place where something is lit."

According to the caption under the eaves of turquoise majolica lamp of Kalon minaret found that it was completed in 1127 at half the height of the barrel reads the name of Arslan Khan. It is found and the name of the master - Bako, the burial of local residents indicate that among the houses of the neighboring district. Bako elevated characteristic for Maurannahr (Central Asia) in the form of a minaret round-the-barrel brick tower, narrowing upwards. The diameter of the bottom - 9 m at the top - 6 m, height - 45.6 m wide column winds up a brick spiral staircase leading to the area of sixteen-arched rotunda - light, based on projecting the ranks of masonry, furnished in a magnificent stalactite cornice - Sharaf. Minaret for nearly 900 years has never been repaired!

Kalon Mosque

The building of the Kalon mosque (Masjid-i Kalon) was completed in 1514 It is equal to the scale of the building of the Bibi Khanum mosque in Samarkand. Under the arches of her going up to 12,000 people. When the same type of building - is quite different works of architectural art. The rectangular courtyard is surrounded by galleries, consisting of 288 domes. The reason they are 208 columns. The longitudinal axis of the court concludes "Maksura" - portal-domed building with a volume of cross-hall, above which rises a massive blue mosaic dome on a drum. The building has many interesting architectural finds. For example, a round hole in one of the domes. Below, you can see through it Kalon minaret base. A retreating step by step, you can count all the belts patterned masonry minaret and be rested in his eyes rotunda.

Miri Arab madrassah

Construction of the madrasa Mir-i Arab attributed by Sheikh Abdullah Yamani (ie, “from Yemen"), the spiritual mentor first Sheibanids, better known by the name Mir-Arab. Sheikh Abdullah had a great influence on Ubaydullah Khan (Sultan of Bukhara 1512-1533, Khan of Maurannahr 1533-1539), which left a significant mark in the history of Bukhara. Contemporaries drew his stern warrior. He was six times led his troops to battle in Khorasan (northeastern Iran). Was brought up in the spirit of the ruler of Sufi philosophy and the very name of 'Ubaydullah", had given him his father in honor of the famous sheikh of the XV century Ubaidulla Akhror-Khoja, the head of the famous Naqshbandi Sufi order.

By the thirties of the XVI century gone are the days when the rulers erected for themselves and their relatives ceremonial tomb. The value of religion was so great that even the emperor was satisfied with the burial at the feet of his Shaykh in a room of his madrassa. Therefore, in the madrassas, the center “gurkhana” (tomb) stands a wooden tombstone Ubaidulla Khan. In his head - the tomb of Mir-Arab. Next to him was buried Muhammad Kasim - "Mudarris" (Senior Lecturer).

At the time, Mir-Arab madrassah was the only Muslim spiritual institution in the former USSR. Among its famous alumni, called the Mufti of Azerbaijan Pasha-Zadeh, a former mufti of Kazakhstan Ratbek Nysanbayuly, the head of the Russian Muslims Ravil Gaynuddin and the late Chechen President Akhmad-hadji Kadyrov, the former mufti to the events. Miri-Arab is the second largest in size (after Kukeldash) madrassa in Bukhara. It has 114 cells in the number of verses in the Koran.