Bukhara, one of the oldest cities in the world

At the heart of Central Asia and at the crossroads of the caravan routes known as the Silk Roads, which lead us to an imagined enchanting Orient, Uzbekistan brings together the treasures of the civilisations that have crossed, clashed and succeeded each other. We take a look at Bukhara, the pearl of the KyzylKum, the red sand desert that separates it from the oasis of Khiva.

After the passage of Alexander the Great in the 3rd century B.C., the States of Bactria and Sogdiana, united under the crown of Achaemenid Empire collapse. This was a historically important period for Central Asia, and the beginning of a long period that began with Hellenism and ended with the arrival of Islam. This religion marked a break between the diversity and richness of figurative art before the Hegira and after, the homogeneity of medersas and mosques. A walk through the Bukhara of today allows you to follow the development of new ideas and new architectural works over the centuries. 
Many times invaded (Achaemenids, Greeks, Kushans, Persians, Huns, Turks, Mongols, until the final apotheosis with the Timurids and their Mongol successors Shaybanides , the arrival of the Timurid Uzbeks in 1501), Uzbekistan was a major Eurasian centre, the empire of Amir Timour (Tamerlane) stretching from the Near East to western China.
The artistic and archaeological masterpieces that bear witness to the complex history of Central Asia from the 3rd century onwards are concentrated around famous oases, notably Bukhara and Samarkand.

Bukhara: historical and cultural heritage

Located in the delta of the River Zerafshan, the site was occupied as early as the 6th century BC by the Achaemenids and migrants from the north and north-east to settle in the irrigated areas. Founded at the very beginning of our era by the Persian prince Siyavoush, Bukhara was then an oasis state, an important stopover on the trade routes between the West and China. Its inhabitants have always fought against invaders: Huns, Turks and Arabs. It was taken three times by the latter, and rebelled three times. But the city finally fell in 709. Islam gradually spread, but this city, where all religions (Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Buddhism, Manichaeism and Christianity) coexisted peacefully, saw its temples destroyed and replaced by mosques. Two or three hundred years elapsed between the Arab incursions into Central Asia and the time when Arab and religious culture really took hold.
The change in culture was obvious. It took the form of Arabic calligraphy, intended essentially to convey the texts and doctrines of this new religion, and through architecture. To Islamise the population, the Arabs went so far as to place one of their own in every house and offer money to those who went to Friday prayers.

The beauty of the spirit

The arrival of the Samanides in 875, who emancipated themselves from the caliphate of Baghdad, led to immense influence: Bukhara, their capital, became a major literary, religious, artistic and scientific centre. Its irrigation system supported 300,000 inhabitants, a considerable population for the time. Famous figures included the physician and philosopher Avicenne ('Ali Ibn Sina) who wrote his Quanoun or the mathematician, astronomer and historian Al-Birouni. Not forgetting imam Boukhari, which was born there in 810 and which recorded the oral teaching of the Prophet, the Sunna, the second holiest book in Islam after the Koran. This makes the city the fifth holiest after Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem and Hebron. Its nicknames include "Bukhara the Noble", "the Dome of Islam" and "the Beauty of the Spirit".

More than 360 mosques and medersas at the time, and a key market on the caravan routes with dozens of caravanserais, it is said. Originally, these caravanserais were essentially coaching inns built of mud bricks, a simple enclosure with rudimentary accommodation for merchants and their animals. But with the expansion of trade, they became forts to protect merchants and pilgrims from highway robbers, and to provide board and lodging. Persian architects came up with a unique model: a large rectangle made up of three high blind walls, the fourth side consisting of a monumental gate surmounted by loopholes. Each merchant had his own space and could trade in complete safety.

Death and rebirth of Bukhara

But the bloodthirsty conqueror Genghis Khan was not to be denied. In 1120, he and his troops took the city, which was sacked and burnt. The 30,000 Turkish soldiers in the garrison were killed to the last man. The following century, another Mongol, Tamerlane, razed the city to the ground and made it part of his Timurid empire. The city declined as maritime trade between Europe and Asia replaced the traditional caravan route. Bukhara lost its political importance to its rival Samarkand. It then passed into the hands of the Chaybanids (1), descendants of Genghis Khan (the Djanids) in the 16th century and became an independent khanate (2) until 1920, when the city was taken by the Red Army.

Russian, then Soviet domination

In the 19th century, Bukhara became the focus of Anglo-Russian rivalry in Central Asia. Russian troops seized the city in 1868 and forced the Emir to sign a treaty placing him under the Tsar's protectorate. Bukhara wanted to escape Russian domination, but in 1920, the city was brutally subdued by the Communists, who deposed the last Emir Âlim Khân (1911-1920). He fled to Afghanistan. The khanate was abolished and, on 6 October 1920, the Soviets proclaimed the Bukhara Soviet People's Republic. In October 1924, the Bukhara Khanate was dismembered as part of the Soviet plan to demarcate borders in Central Asia: Uzbekistan was born. Despite being bombed by the Bolshevik army, the city still boasts the only Muslim medina in the former Soviet Union.

Under the Soviet regime, many of the mosques were converted into administrative offices. During glasnost, the majority of Uzbeks wanted to remain part of the USSR, but on 18 August 1991 the Moscow putsch changes the situation. Russia declared its independence and Uzbekistan followed suit on 31 August 1991, but it was not quite a democracy. Its President, Islam Karimov, applied an authoritarian, or rather dictatorial, policy. Not appreciating religion, he had the muezzins banned from the minarets, the last straw for a nation that once taught the precepts of Islam! This did not prevent 200 hectares of its historic centre and 140 monuments from being declared a World Heritage Site in 1993. It was not until the election of Shavkat Mirziyoyev at the end of 2016 that Uzbekistan really opened up to the international community. Foreign investment is being encouraged, human rights are improving and tourism is booming. This is a new area of development for the country.

An open-air museum

Bukhara is one of the best examples of Islamic architecture and town planning in Central Asia, with an urban fabric that has remained largely intact compared with other ancient cities in this vast region. With the exception of a few remains from the 10th and 11th centuries, most of the ancient monuments in Bukhara that have survived to the present day date from after the Mongol invasion of Genghis Khan in 1220 and that of Tamerlane in 1370, and date largely from the time of the Uzbek Chaybanid dynasty.

Most visits are concentrated within its walls. Of the eleven gates that existed in the 16th century, only two remain. Strolling through the city, you are struck by the beauty of its domes and the majestic doors of the medersas, with their turquoise-blue ceramics gleaming in the sunlight. You can step back in time to the heart of this city, forbidden to infidels for centuries, and dream of the peregrinations of the great travellers who made it famous.

Poy-I-Kalon or Kalyan

This is undoubtedly the most beautiful square in the city. This impressive group of 12th and 16th century religious buildings includes the Kalon minaret, the great Kalon (or Kalyan) mosque built in 1514, and the Mir-I-Arab medersa built in 1535, which faces it. During the Soviet period, it was the only Bukhari Muslim school to carry out its teaching function. The Kalon minaret is the symbol of Bukhara. At 47 metres high, it served as a landmark for caravans coming in from the steppe. Genghis Khan was so impressed by the height of this tower that he decided to spare it. And so he did!

You can walk around the city in all directions, and from everywhere you look you can see this minaret, built in 1127, which has withstood earthquakes thanks to its foundations, fires, the Mongol invasion and the Russians, who had it renovated after their artillery damaged it. Built by the Karakhanid Arslan Khan, this tower was not only used to call the faithful to prayer. In the 17th century, those condemned to death were thrown from the top of the tower, after having been sealed in a jute sack. Today, this complex is one of the finest examples of Islamic architecture in the world.

Liab-I-Khaouz

Lined with chaikhanas (tea houses) and centuries-old mulberry trees, the Liab-i-Khaouz is a lively and friendly place in the heart of the old town, the ideal starting and finishing point for strolls around Bukhara. Behind the foliage, the sumptuous facades of the madrasa and the khanaka Nadir Divan-Begui (or Devonbegui), a place of reflection and rest for Sufis. The pool, a meeting place for tourists and Bukharians, provides a little coolness even in the hottest hours of the summer. The city had more than 200 of them before the arrival of the Russians. They drained most of them in the 20th century, putting an end to the recurring problems of epidemics.

The Nadir Divan-Begui medersa (1622-1623) was originally intended to be a caravanserai on the famous Silk Road. But the khan made a mistake at the inauguration and congratulated the architect on having built such a beautiful medersa. In order not to contradict the Emir, Nadir Divan-Begi was obliged to reorganise the caravanserai by adding an extra storey with cells. In reality, it was a decline in commercial activity in the 17th century that justified the transformation.
Today, the building has been returned to commercial use, with craft shops and occasional fashion shows.

The beauty of the medersa lies in its exceptional portal: two immense ceramic semurgues, fantastic birds with outstretched wings described by the Persian Sufi poet Farîd-od-din 'Attâr in 1177. They hold a doe in their talons and seem to be flying towards a sun god with a Mongol face. This bird can be compared to the phoenix; it represents peace and the sun, universal knowledge that enlightens the world. The students were represented by animals, in this case a white deer. Splendid!

The Samanid Mausoleum

Located in one of Bukhara's cemeteries where nobles were buried, the Mausoleum of Ismaïl I is one of the oldest remains of the dynasty of the Samanides. This world-renowned architectural masterpiece was built between 892 and 943. It is one of the oldest buildings in Central Asia and the only one to have survived from the dynasty that reigned in the 9th and 10th centuries.
Despite its modest size - 11 metres high and 11 metres wide - it is of great historical value. The general structure is similar to that of the ancient Zoroastrian fire temples, commonly known as "Tchârtâqi" in Persian, literally meaning "four arches", i.e. an architectural unit made up of four arches and a dome. The façade of the building is covered in finely decorated, interlaced baked bricks, cemented with egg yolk and camel's milk. The circular motifs are reminiscent of the sun, symbol of the Zoroastrian god Ahura Mazda. At the time of Genghis Khan's invasion, the mausoleum was buried under sand and mud following flooding. This is why the sanctuary was spared during the Mongol invasion. The site was not rediscovered until much later, by Soviet-era archaeologists in 1934.

Tchor Minor

Away from the city centre, Tchor Minor ("four minarets" in Tajik) is one of Bukhara's most charming and unusual buildings. It served as the gateway to an ancient 19th-century medersa.

Each minaret symbolised a city: Damascus, Bukhara, Samarkand and Baghdad. They are crowned by turquoise domes with different decorations such as the cross, the Christian fish and Buddhist prayer wheels that reflect the philosophical and religious understanding of the world's four religions. Just opposite, there is a second-hand shop selling objects and souvenirs from the Soviet period.

The Sitoraï Mokhi Khossa palace

Away from the centre, the Sitoraï Mokhi Khossa palace was the summer residence of the last emir of Bukhara.
The main structures of the residence were built during his reign at the beginning of the 20th century. The palace now houses the Bukhara Museum of Decorative and Applied Arts.

The Toqi Zargaron and Toqi Sarrofon bazaars

You can't leave Bukhara without visiting its markets and craft shops. Whether in the narrow streets of the Jewish quarter, under the domes of the bazaars, the tâq, since the 16th century, there has been no let-up in business in and around tourist sites. These businesses have even spread to the ancient medersas where the teachings of Islamic civilisation were once taught.

Tourists have replaced the old caravanners from India, China and Persia... Wool or silk carpets, ceramic objects, jewellery, puppets, embroidered suzanis, carved or painted wooden boxes, silk and cotton ikats... the choice is vast and often of high quality.

In this garden in the middle of the desert that is an oasis city, the fabrics of the women's dresses and coats are bouquets of brightly coloured flowers. It's a far cry from other Muslim countries, where women are obliged to wear the abaya. With their hair free or their heads covered by a light kerchief or a carelessly placed white shawl, women are not obliged to veil themselves in the street. Who remembers that in the 1930s the Communist regime organised a giant autodafé of chadors? Nowadays, young women wear jeans and a blouse or coloured tunic, while older women wear trousers, often in a variety of colours, under a long dress. We're not just at the crossroads of civilisations, we're at the crossroads of lifestyles.

1 - Uzbek dynasty of Central Asia (circa 1450-1599), founded by Abu al-Khayr (1427-1468) and restored by his grandson Muhammad Shaybani, Supreme Khan of Transoxiana (1500-1510).
2 - Before the 20th century, Uzbekistan did not form a single uniform territory, but was made up of khanats, regions ruled by Uzbek khans who were military chiefs or local leaders.

Text and Photos : Brigitte Postel