Had an whirlwind day seeing Bukhara's sights. Bukhara is different from and older than Samarkand. Bukhara was the capital of the of the Samanid state in the 9th and 10th centuries and as the culutural heart of Centra Asia . Bukhara succumbed in 1220 to Jenghiz Khan and in 1370 fell under the shadow of Timur's Samarkand. In the 16th c the Uzbbek Shaybanids made it Bukhara khanate . The Shaybanid Bukhara was a vast marketplace with dozens of specialist bazaars and caravanserais, more than 100 medressas (with 10,000 students) and more than 300 mosques. For the purposes of today's sightseeing, I will leave the history here although obviously it continues (in a torturous fashion) for centuries.
Began the day at the Ismail Samoniy Mausoleum (also called The Samanid Mausoleum in another book) which dates from the 9th/10th c. This is a beautiful square, untitled but highly textured structure that we were fortunate enough to see ine the raking morning light. The bricks are arranged such that beautiful patterns emerge in the surface of the building and inside you can clearly see the architecture of the done. Again there is no tile work on thiis building at all, or color, other than that of the natural mud bricks. Superstition has it that if you make a wish and walk three times around the building your wish will come true. Was too busy photographing to try it. Then quickly to an unknown-holy-man's mausoleum which I need to track down the name of.
On the way to this stoop I passed a woman selling wonderful antique hats. Sasha helped me to negotiate and ended up paying $20 per for five hats: two from Kyrgyzstan, one from Turkmenistan, one from Uzbekistan and one from Kazakhstan. Somewhere along the way I heard my name being called to come quickly and join Sasha for a run to a local fabric shop. There are two other women on the trip who wanted to buy ikat and off ran through a fabulous local market (me snapping pictures and trying not to get lost as the three of them ran ahead). We finally arrived at a pedestrian street lined with shoops selling things to the local people (not for tourists). Arrived at the store and all fabrics were new and not quite what we were looking for. So I felt we had our own trip to see "yard good" in Bukhara. I enjoyed seeing the local women selling produce; the vendor selling birds and men selling spices. We ran ran ran and finally rejoined the group at a lovely old wooden Bolo-Hauz Mosque.
Next to Magoki-Attari Mosque which has no tile decoration at all except for a few pieces of turquoise tile that are original to the building, over the entryway. Inside this mosque today is a small display of Bukharan carpets (not a very good one) but something to see.
On to the grand citadel called The Ark (built in the 18th c) which was the palace of the Bukhara amir, housed mosques, government administration, etc. It is reminiscent of the Red Fort in Delhi or some of the other grand forts of India. The Art was considerably destroyed in 1920 when the Red Army subjected the city to air bombing and attack. Inside was a small history museum that included a few examples of clothing and ikat.
Ran ran ran to the spectacular Kalon Minaret, buit by Arsian Khan in 1127. The minaret is 47m tall and in 850 years has never needed anything but cosmetic repair. There are 14 ornamental bands, all different, and the tower includes the first example of glazed tile that would later cover monumental buildings under Timur's rule. Adjacent is the Kalon Mosque (took a video of the place it's so large), and across the courtyard is the Mir-i-Arab Medressa (1535) that remains a working medressa today.
Had a brief discussion of carpets (by no means the kind of presentation worthy of an SFWG trip) at a carpet shop and then lastly (whew!) to the Modir Devon Begi Medressa (1622) . Can't find the discussion in my book but the exterior had two gorgeous birds over the entrance.
Will post photos of all later; this hotel, once again, charges by the megabyte uploaded so I'm being stingy.
Had dinner outside beside a pool at the Lyabi-Hauz Plaza. I had veggie shish and Scott had minced beef. Plus lots of vodka for me.
I expect on your return you will be the Vodka Diva explaining the subtle differences to us.
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