On our first morning, we started the sightseeing at the Mausoleum of Ismael Samani. He was the founder of the Samanid dynasty. The mausoleum has very thick brick walls, was covered by earth and survived 11 centuries without restoration except for the dome.
We continued through the Samani park passing by the Mausoleum of Hiob and the Bolo-Hauz Mosque to the Ark. The Ark is the castle and palace of the khan - a city in the city. Outside was the registan with a market place and medressas. Today the registan is an empty space as the buildings were bombed by the Soviets in 1920. Still today not all the ark walls are reconstructed.
Ark walls from the musicians' home
We crossed the registan and had a look at the jewel bazaar - on the other side of the street you could buy furniture. At one point, the road opens into a big square with features three interesting buildings:
The Kalon Minaret was built by Arslan Khan in 1127. It makes its name "great" glory with a height of 47 m and is overwhelmingly decorated with ornamental bands.
Kalon Mosque & Minaret
Next to it is the Kalon Mosque which the Soviets misused as warehouse but was restored to the muslim worshippers after independence. It can host up to 10,000 people at prayer times.
In every mosque you can find a minrab and minbar. Minrab is a niche indicating the direction to Mecca for the prayers. Minbar is a staircase from which the imam reads the sermons or gives lectures. He is standing on the second last step as the last one is reserved for Allah.
Minrab & Minbar
Across from the mosque, there is the Mir-i-Arab Medressa that is still working today. If you follow the street you will find two more medressas that are converted into craft shops and souvenir stands. There we found an example of a students' room that consisted of two rooms. The lower was used for bathing, cooking and storing food & clothes. The upper for sleeping, studying and reading.
double students' room
Bukhara was a trade town at the Silk Road. Today there remain only the facades of caravanserais and three merchant domes with shops.
Merchant Dome
Bukhara is also a centre for silk carpet weaving and trading. The special Bukhara design is originally from Turkmen nomads: in the centre of the carpet are symbols for the tents, in between wind roses and at the edges borders with all the dangerous animals behind that the Turkmen knew of: spiders, scorpions and snakes.
My try at carpet weaving
On the second day, we explored the sights around Bukhara. First, we visited the Bakhautdin Naqshband Mausoleum. It is a very important shrine for Sufism. Naqshband was the founder of a Sufism order and set down rules for life - on being: First work, then pray.
There is a wonderful museum on Sufism and we even got a German tour by the custodian. Around the mausoleum, there is a mosque, the tombs of Naqshband's mother and other females and also the local cemetary.
The tomb of Bakhautdin Naqshband
The last sight on our plan was the Emir's Summer Palace. It is a wonderful example on kitsch. A bit further is the Harem building. According to Andreas, the Emir was a very poor man - when he escaped his four wives in the city palace, he had to face his 140 girlfriends.
Harem building with pool
A central place in Bukhara is Lyabi Hauz (hauz meaning artificial pool). Around this pool are a restaurant and some medressas and mosques. There is also a small park with the statue of Hoja Nasruddin (a figure like Wilhelm Tell). Hoja Nasruddin is the hero in a lot of humorous tales in the arab, turk and central asian literature.
Two Hoja Nasruddins
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