Bukhara
The Historic Centre of Bukhara is the most complete and unspoiled example of a medieval central Asian town, which urban layout and buildings have had great influence on town planning in Central Asia. Whole districts with their ancient layouts have been preserved to the present day.
The city’s history started in the 4th century BC, growing into one of the largest cities of Central Asia. Most major monuments that have survived are from the 16th century onwards, the Sheibanid period, when economic and cultural development was stimulated. Bukhara was also the largest center for Muslim theology in the Near East.
Visit May 2010
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Undoubtedly my most powerful memory of Bukhara is sitting at the square, gazing at the Kalan minaret. It is so perfectly shaped. The adjoining mosque is another masterpiece. The same can be said of the little Ismail Samani mausoleum, dating from the 9th-10th century, and the four turrets of the Chor Minar.
Bukhara is a great destination: compared to the other Uzbek sites it is more lively than Samarkand and less museum-like than Khiva. It has a lot on offer from different periods and merits a visit of at least 3 days. In the evenings you can relax, eat and drink on one of the terraces around the Lab-i Hauz pond. This area especially has become touristy, as have the bazaars. Although Uzbekistan cannot be considered a major tourist destination, enough of them come here to provide a living for the many restaurants, hotels and souvenir sellers in town.
Part of the WHS is also the 16th century women's hammam. It was my first visit to a hammam ever and a memorable experience. Imagine sweating away in a 500 year monument that has been used by many many women in this period. At first I was still in my "visiting a monument"-mode, just admiring the heated cells covered all over with large dark gray stones. The image then was completed by the arrival of several very fat naked Uzbek women, scrubbing each other or lying on the cold floors pouring buckets of water on themselves. It is rare that one still can see life as it was centuries ago. And become a part of it, as I was washed from top till toe by a small Uzbek grannie.
More photos can be found in the Picture Gallery
Reviews
Paul Tanner (UK):
 We have visited Bukhara twice, once in Soviet days (1983) and again in Oct 2004 – and what a difference! Free enterprise has turned a dour dusty “museum city” into a lively “Persian (or rather “Uzbek”!) Market”.
In Soviet times all tourists stayed at the Intourist run Bukhara Hotel in the new town. We went to visit it for “auld lang syne” and found it now very down market (although even in Soviet days it had become infamous as the seat of a cholera epidemic which attacked western tourists!) and seemingly only used by locals. Its restaurant, where we had waited for so many hours to be served unappetising food by surly waitresses, was closed and empty of tables. The deserted foyer still exuded its tacky Soviet persona with its cheap wood veneers and decorations. The Intourist Souvenir stand which sold little, apart from those Russian dolls which fit inside each other, had a film of dust on it and its glass fronted shelves were even emptier than they used to be. A real “time warp”!
Instead a number of new private hotels have been built or converted from old city buildings but, as yet no “chain hotels”. Restaurants had appeared, catering for a range of levels and tastes (even including an Italian!). The old domed covered markets were full of shops selling carpets, carved woodwork, embroidery, metal-ware, pottery, Astrakhan hats etc etc. One wonders where the craftsmen had been hiding during those long Soviet years –the quality of the work often seemed very good. Entire madrassa buildings had been turned into markets while others were active in Islamic studies. The buildings were as fine if not finer than we remembered them (restoration has been going on but had not sanitised the place as much as Khiva). On the whole we felt that the changes had given the city the “life” it had lacked in Soviet times.
In the evening we watched a few students from a madrassa playing football in their robes in the otherwise peaceful main square next to the “Tower of Death” as the sun cast a superb light on the blue tiles and red stone of the buildings. The sunset view from the top of the tower (closed on our previous visit) was magnificent. The people everywhere were friendly. We hope that Uzbekistan will emerge from its current troubles and that Bukhara will remain available for visits – it is undoubtedly “world class”. |
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