Mausoleum of Khoja Abdi Darunee

Mausoleum of Khoja Abdi Darunee, Samarkand

Abdi-Darun (Abdu-Darun) - a complex of memorial structures (ensemble), religious and spiritual and educational purposes in the Old Cemetery of Samarkand, which developed in the 12th-20th centuries at the grave of the famous Islamic jurist of the 9th century Abd-al Mazeddin. The ancient core of the ensemble is the mausoleum of the XII century, next to which at different times khanaka, mosque and madrasah were built. The radical restructuring of the ensemble, significantly changing its appearance, was carried out in the XV, XIX and XX centuries. The ensemble Abdi-Darun is one of the most revered shrines of Islam in Central Asia.

The Abdi-Darun ensemble, with the exception of several secondary buildings, is located on an area of 125 × 70 meters. The main architectural elements of the complex are grouped around a courtyard measuring 25 × 25 meters, most of which is occupied by an octagonal house with plane trees growing around it. Along the northern side of the perimeter there is a building of a madrasah, the hujras and household premises of which are facing the courtyard. From the east, the perimeter is surrounded by a flat-roofed aivan, resting on wooden columns.

On the opposite side is the guzar mosque, consisting of a square winter building and a summer l-shaped aivan. The mosque is a striking example of the Samarkand folk style of the late XIX - early XX centuries. The coffered wooden aivan ceiling is decorated with polychrome painting. The walls of the mosque are decorated with carved ganch with a background color characteristic of this time.

The southern part of the complex is occupied by a mausoleum with a khanaka and additional lateral extensions. Actually the mausoleum of Khoja Abdi is a cubic-shaped room at the end of the building. Above it, on a low octagonal drum, a conical dome was erected. There is no decor in the interior of the mausoleum: its walls and ceiling are covered with white alabaster. The khanaki premises attached to the mausoleum have a portal-dome composition. The entrance portal was once higher and crowned with a decorative gallery of lancet arches. The massive dome, covered with blue tiles, rests on a high cylindrical drum. Outside, the hanaka is decorated with glazed bricks, which form geometric patterns on the portal - girih, and on the drum of the dome - an epigraphic ornament. In the interior at the base of the walls there is a blue ceramic panel with an insert in the center of the mosaic in the form of a multi-petal rosette.

Among the inhabitants of Samarkand, there is a belief that if on the day of the holiday Kurban Khait (Eid al-Adha) walk around the Khoja Abdi mausoleum seven times, this will be equated to a walking hajj to Mecca.

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