Baland Mosque

History and architecture

The mosque went up in the early 16th century in a prosperous quarter of southern Bukhara and is more than 500 years old. It has a winter and a summer section: the winter hall is a cubic block, wrapped and shaded by an L-shaped iwan that serves as the summer mosque. The iwan's wooden columns with muqarnas capitals and its ceiling date from the 19th century.

The walls and mihrab of the winter hall are covered in delicate painting highlighted with gold, and a band of hexagonal glazed tiles runs around the room. The ceiling is pieced together from painted boards and small wooden cupolas.