Monuments to visit Uzbekistan

Lost in the alleys east of Liab-i-Khaouz. Tchor Minor means "four minarets". In fact, they are four towers that marked the entrance to a madrasah, now disappeared, built in 1807 by a wealthy Turkmen merchant. Each turret symbolized a city: Termez, Denau, Kounia-Ourgentch and Mecca. Originally, the madrasa had 59 cells and was run by the Sufi Sheikh, Khali Niaz Kholi, one of the most respected and influential naqchbandi of the early 19th century. A staircase leads to a vaulted room and then to the roof.

For more than a thousand years, several palaces were periodically destroyed and rebuilt in the same place. The oldest building still standing is the Ak Sheik Bobo Tower, dating from the 12th century. In the 17th century, Arang Khan, the son of Anusha Khan, built around the ruins of this fortified tower a throne room and the walls protecting the palace from outside and inside the city. But it was under Altuzar Khan, the founder of the Kungrad dynasty at the beginning of the 19th century, that the construction of the present palace began. It included several inner courtyards where the mosque, the guard, the chancellery, the throne room, the mint and the harem were located. The empty space behind the large gates of the palace once included various courtyards. In the first one, the visitors were in the antechamber, in the second one was the guard, then came the chancellery. To the right of this large courtyard is the Summer Mosque (1838). Its immense iwan with six columns and walls covered with blue majolica is of breathtaking beauty: glazed tiles with vegetal arabesques and geometric designs made by renowned 19th century master craftsmen Abdullah and Ibadulla Djinn.

The Mint, located at the end of the inner courtyard, is now transformed into a museum. In the 19th century, working in finance in Khiva had little to do with the life of a golden boy. In order that their knowledge might not disperse, those who minted the coins there were prisoners in the old citadel, and did not come out until after their death. It is in the second inner courtyard, Kurinish Khana, built in 1804, that the khan received his subjects under the shelter of high walls. The throne room itself consists of a long empty room with high ceilings. The silver-leaf veneered wooden throne in the large niche at the back of the room was unfortunately "emigrated" to Russia. Carved and gilded gantch (wood) panels decorate the walls and the ceiling is also richly decorated with polychrome geometric patterns.

The two-column iwan, open to the north to take advantage of the cooler winds during the warmer months, is decorated with majolica in cool colours made with cobalt powder for blue or copper for green. The ceiling, on the other hand, is decorated with warm colours, yellow and red, Zoroastrian symbols of sun and fire. The sun or stars, often symbolized on the ceilings, consecrate the khan as an intermediary between earth and sky, thus God. The wooden doors as well as the columns are entirely carved. Their flared and hollowed base allowed them to be driven onto their marble or wooden base, insulating the wood from the stone with camel's wool, which was said to have anti-seismic properties. Some say that this iwan was the harem, but the women's apartments were actually in the northern part of Kounia Ark. Built at the end of the 19th century by Muhamad Rakhim Khan II, they are unfortunately closed to the public. From the interior of Kounia Ark, a small staircase leads to Ak-Cheikh-Bobo, "the tower of the white sheik", built in the 12th century and so named in memory of the sheik who lived there in the 14th century. At the same time royal residence, guard tower and watchtower, it offers, from its iwan on the upper floor, a panoramic view.

Chorsu, which means the «four roads», is the biggest bazaar in the centre of Tashkent. The large hall, built after the earthquake of 1966, welcomes products from all over the country: dry fruit on the floor, spices and condiments on the ground floor. In recent years, Chorsu has undergone some changes. The open-air meat market, where one trébuchait on the heads of freshly shaved sheep, and where even the night was a smell of blood and fat, was moved to a new closed and glass building. The previously reserved space is now host all year round and seed sellers, except during the melon season, where the production of cucurbits from all over the country occurs.

At the foot of the grand hall are still clowns, wrestlers and acrobats of all kinds, attracting a dense and enthusiastic crowd. On the other side of the grand hall, the clothing shops have also been renovated and rebuilt in a hard way. The large bus station has been reorganized, and the nearby intersection, from where to reach the old town of Chorsu, has been completely redone. You will find a model supermarket as well as an amazing building with a children's crib and at the top of which you can climb through a spiral staircase to admire the view over the bazaar or the mountains.

Its five high, single-column iwans open onto a long inner courtyard lined with a string of summer and winter apartments. Five iwans: one for the khan and the other four for each of his wives... The figure has made several generations of tourists dream, but it is very classic and does not take into account the captives who lived in bulk in the rooms surrounding the courtyard. The apartments of the khan and his wives all have the same architecture: a high iwan open to the northeast, to avoid the baking sunlight of the summer months, and a small adjoining room that is supposed to keep a bearable temperature during the winter months. The slaves and family members of the khan's women lived in the rooms and small iwans lining the courtyard. The ensemble was decorated by the best craftsmen of the time, whose talent seems to have been evident in all parts of the construction: neither the openwork windows of the winter rooms, nor the finely chiselled wooden columns, nor the wooden coffers of the ceilings painted with geometric motifs. The walls of the iwans, entirely decorated with blue and white majolica, are due to the master craftsman Abdullah Djinn who also built the Ark Mosque. The stylistic resemblance is obviously striking, but the proportions are more important here. The walls of the iwans are painted in cool colours while the ceilings are painted in warm colours. At the end of the harem is a room with a ceiling supported by ten wooden columns.

This artificial hill of about twenty meters high was the residence of the Lords of Bukhara. Twenty metres high, many of which are due to the piling up of the ruins of palaces and citadels destroyed and rebuilt in the same place, as a result of the conquests and looting of the city. The oldest foundations found on the site date back more than 2,500 years, but the part visible today is from the 18th century. According to the legend reported by a 16th century Bukhara historian, the founder of Bukhara is Prince Siyavush-ibn Keivakus. The young prince, fleeing from his father, crossed the Jeihun (Amou Daria) and took refuge with Afrosyab, the legendary king, founder of Samarkand. He was welcomed with kindness and married Afrosyab's daughter. Siyavush built a citadel on his new land, but he came into conflict with his father-in-law, and his father-in-law had him murdered a few years later. His body was buried at the foot of his palace, near the east gate, and for a long time the inhabitants of Bukhara worshipped his grave. In the 8th century, the Zoroastrian city was invaded by the Arab conquerors, the citadel destroyed, and a mosque was erected there in 713, in place of the Temple of Fire. Rebuilt by the Samanids, then by the Karakhanids, it was each time destroyed successively by the Kara-Kitai and the Korezmshah and then, in the 13th century, by the Mongols, who, faithful to their reputation, left only ashes. In the 16th century, the Chaybanids undertook the construction of a citadel worthy of their ambitions by raising an artificial hill 800 m in diameter and 20 m high, but it did not withstand the attacks of Nadir Shah. The palace that can be visited today dates back to the Uzbek khanats of the 18th and early 20th centuries. At that time, the Ark was a city within the city inhabited by more than 3,000 people. The complex included gardens, administrative buildings, cowsheds, depots, the Treasury, the armoury, stables, prisons, a mosque, mausoleums, jewellers' shops and the residence of the emir, his wives, family members and slaves in their service. Unfortunately, only 20% of these constructions remain today. Indeed, in September 1920, the Bolshevik army, commanded by General Mikhail Frounze, fired a cannon on the citadel. A fire broke out as Emir Alim Khan fled. We're guessing he might have set it off himself before he fled. The tour begins with the west gate built in 1740 by Nadir Shah. The monumental gate is flanked by two turrets. When Armin Vambery stayed in Bukhara in 1863, he described the Ark as a "den of tyranny" and shuddered at the thought of the Westerners who were then confined there. The door was surrounded by fourteen ornate bronze cannons, a trophy of the Emir's victorious campaign against the Khanate of Kokand. It was also adorned with a clock - disappeared - with an unusual history. Giovanni Orlandi, the Italian watchmaker who made it, had been kidnapped by slave traders in Orenburg in the mid-19th century. The Italian saved his head by promising the Emir to build him a time measuring machine. The Emir was capricious and never tired of the wonders of European technology, but the watchmaker was a believer, stubborn, loved wine and refused to convert to Islam, which was fatal to him. He was the last European to have his head cut off. The covered terrace above the arch of the gate was intended for the Emir and the princely family, who had a front row seat to attend the celebrations and public executions that took place in Registan Square. Beneath the gate, the only remnant from the 19th century, a vaulted corridor is pierced by twelve dark niches, narrow, unsanitary prisons where the personal enemies of the Emir were locked up. One of the niches housed a lantern that burned permanently, to celebrate the memory of Siyavush. It is through this corridor that visitors enter the Ark where souvenir vendors have replaced the prisoners. Most of the buildings such as the apartments of the kushbegi or the kori khana have been transformed into museums: museums of History, Archaeology and Numismatics.

The korunishkhana or throne room. The vast courtyard surrounded by iwan dates from the 17th century. Almost entirely destroyed in the fire of 1920, it has been restored. In the iwan at the back of the court is the throne of the emir in engraved marble, made by craftsmen from Nourata in 1669. During the coronation and official events, the floor was covered with carpet. In the agorakhana, or musical pavilion, an orchestra punctuated the various events of the day, and traditional makom accompanied the Emir's outings and all the official events that took place in the main square. The western part of the fortress offers a splendid view of the monuments of Bukhara, especially Poy Kalon. You can also climb to the steel tower in front of the fortress on the other side of the boulevard (40,000 soums). There you will have a dominant view of the historical center of Bukhara. At sunset, low lights illuminate the fortress walls.

The construction of the palace of Khudaiar Khan, the last khan of Kokand, took 11 years from 1863 to 1873. It mobilized no less than 16,000 workers and 80 craftsmen from Rishtan, Samarkand and other cities in the country. Five years later, the Russians destroyed most of it. The building had a large enclosure with twelve gates bearing the names of the cities to which they led.

The palace is now reached by a paved road that leads up to a monumental gate flanked by two fine turrets. The long façade of the building is entirely decorated with glazed bricks, which owe much to the restorers. The majolica on the left wing were made by craftsmen from Namangan and Andijan, those on the right by craftsmen from Kokand. All the courtyards were renovated after 2010.

Originally, the palace had 7 courtyards and 114 rooms, which is as many suras as the Koran counts. Only 4 courtyards and 19 rooms remain today, most of which have been converted into showrooms.

The visit usually begins in the left wing of the palace, where the former reception hall of the khan used to be. It is decorated from floor to ceiling in the traditional Uzbek style. A model of the palace shows the harem (the khan had 43 wives) which was destroyed during the Soviet takeover of Kokand. Admire the quality of the decorations. On the top right, you will notice a darker space: these are the original, unrenovated colours. Guests entered the reception hall through a small room to the north, where the khan's secretary was located. The complex overlooks a sumptuous inner courtyard bordered by a magnificent 15th century iwan from a mosque built by Tamerlan at Chakhimardan. On the eastern flank, the wooden posts supporting the iwan are new. The original posts are exposed under the south iwan, itself supported by original wooden columns.

It is said that the khan liked to have the heads of his enemies brought to him and stacked at the foot of one of the pillars of this iwan. Of these warlike customs, only two cannons remain: the first, short and artistically twisted, is a local production of the 18th century; the second, long and thin, comes from China and was taken from the enemy during the war of 1840 against the Kashgar khanate.

In the southwest corner of the courtyard, a small reception room housed Khudaiar Khan's secret talks. It is decorated with 114 different motifs, as many as there were rooms in the original palace.

The other wings of the palace, especially those where European diplomats and dignitaries were received, have been transformed into a museum. There are various archaeological finds from the valley, as well as interesting photographs of the construction of the Ferghana Canal and the excavation of the 47 tombs of the village of Pap. Other areas are devoted to the weaponry of the Timurid period, but also exhibit some rifles and two unusual French and Italian shields from the 15th century which were donated to the museum on the occasion of an exhibition in 1924.

A second and then a third inner courtyard lead to the old mosque and other rooms with ceilings decorated in the traditional style. They are transformed into showrooms. In the last room, you can take a look at Khudaiar Khan's diary.

These massive constructions with unusual bulbs, dating from the 16th century, have a very functional architecture. Located at the crossroads of the streets, they have high ogival entrances that allowed traders and camels loaded with goods to move freely. The covered galleries in which the stalls are set up intersect in a central hall surmounted by a high dome. It is cooler here than outside, and the visitor, overwhelmed by the warmth, appreciates the qualities of a commercially oriented architecture when a shrewd merchant invites him to sit in the semi-darkness of his antique shop.

Today, only three of these merchant domes called tâk, which date back to the Chaybanid era, remain, along with the tim Abdullah Khan. In the past, the shopping streets leading to these domes were also lined with shops and protected from the sun by reed mats. Drowning in eternal dust, the traffic was exotic as far as possible, mixing quadrupeds of all sizes and bipeds from all walks of life. Armin Vambery, who in the 19th century was one of the few foreigners to be able to wander freely around the city, says that without having the brilliance and magnificence of the markets of Tehran or Esfahan, the markets of Bukhara were striking for the diversity of races and costumes that one met there.

Tak-i-sarrafan, the dome of the Money Changers. By following westward the canal that borders the southern flank of the Liab-i-Khaouz, one arrives at the Tak-i-Sarrafan dome, known as the "dome of the changers". It was built in 1538 and housed the Jewish money-changers, who were the only ones allowed to engage in this trade, the Uzbeks considering it to be bad luck. If mosques and madrasas are the heart of Bukhara, the merchant domes are its nervous system. It is, in fact, thanks to trade and the resulting taxes that the city was able to experience such a boom.

Tak-i-Telpak Furushan, the dome of the hatters. North of the Magok-i-Attari Mosque, Taq-i-Telpak Furushan, or Dome of the Hatters, was located in the raba, or outer city, just at the southern gate of Shahristan. They sold all kinds of hats, embroidered tioubetek or fur hats, but also books. The tomb of the holy man, Khodja Ahmed-i-Paran, is a reminder to the merchants that there is more than material wealth. Despite its name, the hatters' dome now houses carpet sellers.

The Tim Abdullah Khan. Going north up Hakikat Street, the Tim Abdullah Khan is on the right after the bazaar of hatters. This covered market dates from the end of the 16th century. Today you can find the most beautiful hand woven ikatee silks and a wide selection of carpets from all over the world. The looms are shown at the bottom of the timer.

Tak-i-Zargaran, the dome of the jewelers. Unlike the dome of the hatters, that of the jewellers was located in Shahristan, the inner city of the Middle Ages, between the Mir-i-Arab madrasa and the Ulugh Begh and Abdul Aziz Khan madrasas. Even today, the jewellery merchants are not far away. There is indeed a small gold market in Khodja Nurabad Street, next to the large carpet market. There is some jewelry in the dome of the jewelers, but of poor quality; most shops sell handcrafted souvenirs.

The house of the former President of the People's Republic of Turkestan dates from the end of the 19th century and was built by the father of Fayzulloh, a wealthy Bukharian merchant. An admirable job has been done to reproduce the interior of this house as it was until 1925, when it was transformed into a school by the Bolsheviks. Many murals and period furniture can be admired in the rooms surrounding the three inner courtyards of the house. The rooms of the ichkari, the part of the house reserved for the family, have beautiful period beams and walls with small niches in the style of the old houses of Bukhara. These niches, before finding a decorative vocation, were used as storage spaces and allowed to do without furniture. The iwan, extraordinarily decorated with warm colours and geometric patterns, is made of elm wood that had to be restored many years before it was completed. To get the full measure of this exceptional house, it is best to make an appointment and subscribe to a guided tour (usually in English). You certainly won't regret paying the extra charge for taking pictures either. In the courtyard, note the bust of Fayzulloh Khodjaev. It used to sit in the southwest corner of Liab-i-Khaouz and was cut in three so that it could be reintegrated into the house of its model.

The summer residence of the khans of Bukhara is located in a huge park of more than 6 ha, 5 km from the city. It is a privileged place for walking because of its coolness, especially during the hot summer hours. A first palace surrounded by gardens was built by Amir Akhad Khan at the end of the 19th century. Alim Khan, his son, added a new building in 1914. Bukhara's last khan had studied in St. Petersburg, and his way of life was affected. He commissioned a palace that was undoubtedly intended to be at the cutting edge of modernity, blending Russian architecture with the decorative style of Central Asia. The result is surprising. The tour includes three different bodies of buildings, which have been transformed into museums: the apartments and reception rooms of Alim khan, the octagonal palace and the harem. The reception rooms of Emir Alim Khan, built in a row, in the western style, are a contribution of the Russian architects working at the court of the Emir. The white room is a unique work of art, its walls are entirely covered with finely chiselled white gantch on a background of mirrors. The construction of this Bukhar version of the Ice Palace took three years, during which the architect refused the khan entry to the construction site. When Alim Khan was finally able to admire the result, he was overwhelmed and, resuming the good old ancestral habits, decided to have the architect killed so that he could not share his art with others. Fortunately, Chirin Muradov, the architect of the clean room, was warned in time and managed to escape. At the entrance, a high boudoir is decorated with stalactite niches in which are painted unusual and beautiful bouquets of multicoloured flowers. The walls and ceiling of the games room and waiting room are entirely decorated with gold panels, covered with an extraordinary and somewhat oppressive mosaic of mirrors. The banquet hall is the most original and sumptuous, it had four decorative walls, one for each season, which were changed thanks to a mechanism that no one remembers, but, in any case, the other three decorations disappeared after the revolution. In these rooms are displayed various gifts offered to the Emir, including an original all-glass refrigerator. The mirzo-khona, or secretary's room, is the most sober of the rooms, its three-wing mirror is, it seems, magical. Looking at it, you have to make a wish, which comes true within 40 days... At the end of the building, the veranda exposes a beautiful collection of antique vases from all over the world. The octagonal palace is a museum devoted to national costume, where ceremonial clothes, multicoloured khalat or dark paranjas are displayed amidst pictures of the princely family. Clothes were usually made by women, but gold thread designs were embroidered only by men. The octahedral hall for guests was originally decorated with gold leaf; after the revolution, gold would have been replaced by bronze and taken to Russia. The harem houses the Embroidery Museum. The different decorative techniques are illustrated by one of the most beautiful collections of suzani from Uzbekistan. In front of the harem is a large body of water. It is said that the Emir used to sit in the domed platform that borders this pool to watch his wives bathe, and would choose the chosen one from his heart by throwing an apple at her.

" The doors of the Father ", or doors to the west, were the main doors of the city. They had a bazaar and also hosted the changers. Destroyed in 1920, they were restored by the Soviets in 1975. It is usually by these doors that tourists begin their visit to the old town and buy tickets that give them access to all monuments inside (except access to minarets and watch towers).

Ak means "white", but was understood as "noble", because white was by no means the colour of Tamerlan's palace, whose walls were covered with azure and dark blue majolica. The first contact with this huge square was disappointing. Indeed, not much remains of the sumptuous palace that Clavijo's story allows us to imagine. The ruins of the portal are immense - 30 m - and still covered with majolica tiles, but the 22 m high vault did not resist the earthly attraction. The depredations are ancient, since it was the Emir of Bukhara who had the building destroyed in the 16th century: the palace, whose construction lasted more than a quarter of a century, cast a shadow over it. There is of course a legend about the architect of this palace : in the first version, once the palace was finished, Tamerlan asked the architect if he was capable of building an even more beautiful palace, the boaster answered yes, and was immediately thrown from the top of the walls; in the second version, the architect was supposed to inscribe at the foot of the arch, the following sentence: "The Sultan is the shadow of Allah" but, on one of the sides, he ran out of room, which gave: "The Sultan is the shadow"! In each tower, a spiral staircase climbs to the top from where there is a splendid view of the city and the snow-covered peaks to the south. Unfortunately, it is no longer possible to climb the palace gates to enjoy the beautiful panorama of the city and its surroundings.

It was built, about ten years before the arrival of the Bolsheviks, by Muhammad Rahim Khan, known as Ferouz. The marriage of oriental styles with the luxury of St. Petersburg is striking and testifies to the fascination exerted on the last khans by the sumptuous life of the tsars. The palace, entirely enclosed by walls, consists of a large garden in the north-west quarter, a vast reception hall, official lounges, the khan's apartments: in total, more than a hundred rooms, galleries in all directions, courtyards lined with iwan..

The city was fortified from the very beginning. The Ark was a citadel surrounded by high walls, and Shakhrestan, the Inner City, also had its walls. And to protect itself from nomadic attacks, the oasis of Bukhara was surrounded by a wide enclosure of several tens of kilometres. It was consolidated in the 8th century, after the Arab conquest. Like the city, these fortifications were frequently destroyed and rebuilt. At the end of the ninth century, Ismail Samani had the wall surrounding the oasis of Bukhara rebuilt again: "As long as I am alive," he said, "I will be the wall of Bukhara. "During the reign of Abdul Aziz Khan in 1540, the imposing walls that protected the city from the outside world were 12 km long and 11 m high. They had 11 sturdy double doors flanked by turrets that remained closed at night. The walls suffered some clashes during the feudal wars, but protected the city until the Russian conquest. In 1920, the Bolshevik army left only a few kilometres of it, large parts of which can still be seen today in the bazaar district and in the south-west of the city. The best-preserved parts are just north of the Ismail Samani Mausoleum, around the Talipoch Gate, once decorated with gold nails, and one of only two that have survived to the present day. It was here, until the Russians arrived, that the slave market was held, which has since been replaced by the great bazaar Kolkhoznaya.

Sadly famous, these prisons built in the 18th century tried to rival hell. On Fridays, some prisoners were freed from the chains around their necks, and compassionate relatives or passers-by could bring them food for the week. Perhaps the supreme punishment was not death, but a 6-metre deep well, the "black well", where the condemned were forgotten among the rats and all the most voracious insects of creation. Some captives managed to survive for several months. In 1839, an Englishman, Lieutenant Charles Stoddart, charged with making an alliance with Emir Nasrullah, tasted the distress of the Black Well for disrespecting the Emir by riding when he should have been walking, and walking when he should have been crawling. Furthermore, his mission statement was not from Queen Victoria. He spent six months at the bottom of the hole before earning his grace by converting to Islam. He remained a prisoner but was free to move around the city and stay in his own apartments. In September 1840, a captain of the Bengal Light Infantry, Arthur Conolly, came to inquire about the fate of his compatriot and to try to free him. Shortly after his arrival, the British army was defeated in Afghanistan at the Battle of Khyber Pass. The Emir, in a position of strength, convinced by his advisers that Conolly was a spy, had the two men thrown into the black well. In June 1842, when Conolly refused to convert to Islam, the two English officers were executed in Registan Square, where their bodies probably still lie. Nothing is known of their deaths, however, it is said that Stoddart, a convert to Islam, died beheaded or with his throat cut, but without suffering. Conolly, who refused conversion, probably wasn't so lucky. The story is known thanks to the notebook that Conolly held to the bottom of his well, which was found by the Reverend Joseph Wolff in 1845. Hopkirk's book, The Great Game, also tells the story of these two heroic victims of the "great game" in detail. Mannequins now replace the most famous prisoners of the Black Pit, but the two English officers are not represented. Outside the prisons is the tomb of Saint Kuchar Ata, overlooked by the traditional perch, where prisoners were allowed to practice religious rites.

This is the oldest monument in Khiva. A mausoleum with dome and portal was built in the early 14th century around the tomb of Sufi sheik Said Alauddin who died in 1303. A ziatkhona, a small room through which one reaches the tomb, was added to it under Allah Kouli khan in the 19th century. The tomb covered with majolica with blue and white vegetal motifs is the work of Amir Kulal, a ceramist from Bukhara. Despite the presence of two graves, only one body lies in the tomb

A few hundred metres from Navoi airport, the Rabat i Malik caravanserai is located along the road to Bukhara. We'd almost pass him by without seeing him, but he deserves a stop. The ruins of a Karakhanid caravanserai can be seen, whose portal and foundations have been restored. Opposite are the ruins of an underground water reservoir built in the 11th century called Sardoba Rabati Malik. It has also been restored.

A few kilometres after Djarkurgan, on the left side of the road by going to Denau. Alexander's bridge dates from the th century, but it runs along the road followed by the conquest by the Greek conqueror, hence its name. It was built to serve both bridge and water, and also served as a caravanserai. The bridge is now lower than the road, it is hardly discernible when you move to Denau. It is located a few metres before a modern bridge for the railway, which is easier to predict.

The construction of the Kagan Palace was launched in 1895 and took just under 10 years. The Emir of Bukhara, inspired by the Petersburg palaces, wanted to be able to receive the Tsar with great pomp on his next trip to Central Asia. The railway line now connects his lands to the lands of the Russian emperor, and he must be able to be accommodated in a stately manner when he gets off the train. This is how the construction work began, led by a Russian architect who was able to recreate the style of St. Petersburg. The result: an enormous white palace, a bit of a cream pie where the tsar will never set foot. First he was delayed by other matters, then the Bolshevik revolution turned everything upside down. The palace remained empty for its first years, welcoming a few visiting dignitaries and banned from staying in the holy city of Bukhara because they were not Muslims. In 1920, the arrival to power of the socialists gave it a completely different orientation from its original purpose: it was transformed into a social centre for railway workers. Events were held there in the magnificent banquet hall. Today, the palace is the property of the municipality, which has set up a small railway museum of little interest. But take the time to walk around the building: the exterior, with its turrets, its architecture mixing Moorish, Oriental and Russian Imperial styles is worth a look and shows how much the Emir had tried to please the Tsar.

The family house of the most famous Uzbek pottery. Exhibition-sale.