Four towers of Chor-Minor, Bukhara, Uzbekistan

Hello! Today I’d like to tell you about noble Bukhara. Because it is there is a unique building - the Chor-Minor Madrasa. This is a unique building and it doesn’t occur in other cities. The architecture of this building is confusing - it is so impressively distinguished by other buildings. My regular readers have already got an idea about the historical buildings of Uzbekistan - usually madrassas or mosques. And for those, and for others - the entrance is a richly decorated portal, and behind it is a building with a dome, painted in blue. Plus a pair of minarets on each side. Of course, the buildings vary in size, degree of safety and beauty of ornaments, but in general, all in one scenario.
But this does not apply to Chor-Minor. Madrasah (i.e., an educational institution for Muslim theologians) was built with the money of the rich merchant Khalif Niyaz-kul. What you see in the photo is the remainder of the madrasah complex, which has survived to our days - a mosque with four towers.

It is said that Khalif Niyaz-kul made a trip to India and was impressed by the greatness of the Taj Mahal. Upon his return, he assembled the architects and builders and offered to sponsor the construction of the madrasah. He had two conditions - the first: the madrassah should be located on the Great Silk Road so that travelers can visit it. Second - the building should symbolize the equality of all parts of the world and the equality of all people on the planet. Since all people equally come to this world, they live on the same planet, they breathe the same air and the sky is the same for all.

Soon the building was built. Each tower-minaret had its own special form and design. According to some scientists, this was done for a reason, since each minaret symbolizes one of the four world religions. If you look closely, you can see patterns similar to a Buddhist wheel, a Christian fish or a cross. All four minarets connect the dome, symbolizing the unity of God and heaven. Under this cupola of Sufis (representatives of Sufism-the esoteric current in Islam) they held their ritual ceremonies.

On the sides of this building were added cells for students, a library, as well as utility rooms, which, unfortunately, did not survive.

Interestingly, I found this type of building only in one place - in the Bach ad-Din complex, which is located in a suburb of Bukhara. This set is dedicated to Bahauddin Nakshbandi - the sheikh (leader) of the Sufi tariqata (order) of Naqshbandi. In Europe, an analogy to such a tariqa (brotherhood) was the Order (the Order of the Knights Templar, the Order of the Jesuits, etc.). This brotherhood, at one time, was the richest, most influential and powerful in the East.

But it's not about that. The story of Naqshbandiya is a topic for a separate post. I want to show photos of a kind of miniature copy of Chor-Minor, which is used as a reservoir for drinking water.

!steemitworldmap 39.774671 lat 64.427433 long Chor-Minor - the unique four-tower madrassa in Bukhara d3scr