Magoki-Attari - the sanctuary of the three world religions

The sacred Bukhara is famous for its sights and ancient buildings are works of medieval architecture. But there is one building that stands alone even among these pieces of architectural art. I’m talking about about Magoki-Attari - the ancient sanctuary of the fire-worshipers and the Islamic mosque, whose age has exceeded one thousand years. This two-dome differs from most Islamic structures by its asymmetry, characteristic of Zoroastrian structures.

Verbatim Magoki-Attari can be translated as "Mosque in the pit of the muscatels” (dry chemicals and dyes traders). Local people sometimes call it "Underground Mosque" because it is located at a depth of 4.5 meters from the ground level. Of course no one specifically dug a pit to build a mosque in it. Earlier, even before the Arab invasion (IX century), the market was located on this place. On it traded idols, various drugs and other similar goods. For those centuries that this temple stands, around it lay the cultural layers that almost buried the mosque.

Magok-Attari also has a second name - "Mokh mosque" (“Mokh” in Persian means "Moon"), because earlier on this place was located the Zoroastrian Temple of the Moon. After the arrival of the Arabs, a mosque was built on this site. The Arabs generally liked to arrange mosques in place of ancient temples. However, later the fire destroyed most of the building and therefore in the XII century the mosque was restored, but with some modifications - the entrance from the south side was cut through. After another three centuries, the mosque underwent another restructuring and acquired a modern look. Then, in the XV century, on the orders of Bukhara's ruler Abdulaziz-khan, the upper entrance portal of the mosque was built.

Magoki-Attori is one of the few buildings in Bukhara that survived the Mongol invasion (XIII century). This is very interesting - you can see in one building how the architectural techniques have changed over the centuries. What methods of decorating buildings used by ancient architects. For example, for the pre-Mongolian era, there is a lack of color jewelry. Builders created patterns with the help of bricks, which were stacked at different angles and it was done so skillfully and gracefully that the building seems to be woven from a stone ...

Medieval Islamic architects actively used majolica and glazed tiles to decorate their buildings. On the portals and the walls of the buildings, they cut out geometric patterns and wrote out the sayings from the Koran and the Arabic ligature in a calligraphic way, which in itself looked like a bizarre ornament ...

The Magoki-Attari mosque was used not only by Muslims, but also by Jews who lived in Bukhara. Given the current divisions between Arabs and Jews in the Middle East, this looks incredible, but before the construction of the first synagogue, the Jews and Muslims peacefully neighbored with each other and prayed in the same room. Some sources say that both Jews and Muslims prayed at the same time, but in different corners of the building, others say that the Jews came to the mosque after the Muslims had completed their rituals. One way or another, but the Bukharian Jews have a custom to end the prayer with the words "Shalom Aleichem" ("Peace to you"), which is missing from European Jews.
Today in Magoki-Attari there is a museum of carpet weaving. The museum exposition is quite rich and interesting. Fine samples of Uzbek, Kazakh, Iranian, Turkmen and Armenian carpet weaving are presented here.

If you’ll be in Bukhara, then you should to visit Magoki-Attori, do not spare a couple of dollars and go inside, touch the ancient walls in which the representatives of the three religions peacefully prayed.
Over the past centuries, around the mosque and the bazaar, the cultural layers have grown and archaeologists will need more than one year to learn the secrets of this ancient and sacred place ...

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