Ensemble of Khoja-Gaukushon

Ensemble of Khoja-Gaukushon, Bukhara

Khoja-Gaukushon (Khoja-Gaukushan Ensemble) is one of the largest ensembles in the center of the city of Bukhara.

Together with a number of other buildings in the central part of the city, it is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Gaukushon - "killing bulls", in the past a large commercial area of Bukhara, on the site of which there was previously a slaughter. In the XVI century a large madrasah and a cathedral mosque were built on the square, with the Khodja Kalon minaret high and wide across, which was second only to the Kalyan XII century minaret.

The Gaukushon Madrasah was built in 1570 during the reign of the Uzbek khan Abdullah Khan II and had a traditional courtyard layout. The trapezoidal shape of the building is explained by its location on the fork in the streets

The buildings on Gaukushon Square were made at the expense of the Sheikh Khuja Khadja, known by the nickname "Khoja Kalon" ("Great Khoja"), which was reflected in the name, mosque and the whole complex. The Khodja Kalon Madrasah was built in 1570 at a fork in the streets, which explains its trapezoidal shape, which, however, did not prevent the preservation of the traditional courtyard layout.

In 1598, a cathedral mosque (masjid-i jami), called the Khoja Mosque, was built from the north of the madrasah. The builder of the cathedral mosque, Khoja Kalon, is buried in the territory of the family necropolis of the Juybar sheikhs - Chor-Bakr.

This ensemble belongs to the architecture of medieval Bukhara, during the reign of the first khans of the Sheibanid dynasty, when the capital was moved from Samarkand to Bukhara.

Masters of the Bukhara school of architecture of the XV-XVII centuries used in building structures and decor inexpensive and labor-consuming, but effective and effective techniques. For example, overlap on intersecting arches, two-color ganch decor "kirma" and "chaspak". In the XVII century. colorful, sometimes monumental zoomorphic images with ancient pre-Muslim subjects were used in the majolica decor, where the pattern of birds and bird snakes flying towards the sun prevailed.

The features of the Bukhara school in the buildings of the madrasah, minarets, sardobes and memorial buildings - the Khazir stand out especially clearly. The Bukhara school, becoming the leading one in Central Asia in the XV-XVII centuries, had a significant impact on the architecture of the states of the region.

Top Sights of Bukhara

Ensemble of Khoja-Gaukushon in Bukhara

Ensemble of Khoja-Gaukushon, Bukhara