Barakhan Madrasah

History

The complex took shape over the 16th century from buildings of different dates. A mausoleum in the eastern part came first; then, in 1530, a double-domed mausoleum-khanqah was built for Tashkent's ruler Suyunchkhoja Khan (1454–1525), son of Abulkhair Khan and a descendant of Ulugh Beg, who governed the Tashkent province from 1503/1508 until 1525 and drew poets and scholars to the city.

In the mid-16th century the complex was converted into a madrasah and named after the ruler of the day, the Shaybanid Navruz Ahmad Khan, known as Barak Khan. In 1868 it had 34 cells, a mosque and a lecture hall. A 19th-century earthquake brought down its 22-metre blue dome. In Soviet times it served as a dormitory, a society for the blind and a warehouse, and until the end of 2006 it was the headquarters of the Muslim Board of Uzbekistan.

Architecture

The eastern portal is unusual for Tashkent: its vault is shaped as a niche in the kolab-kori manner, and its spandrels and piers are covered with carved brick and multicoloured mosaic. Master Shirin Muradov restored it in 1955–1963. The drum under the dome is faced with glazed brick in girih patterns and Quranic verses, and the delicacy of the decoration recalls Samarkand buildings of the late 15th century. Inside survives the mausoleum with Suyunchkhoja Khan's grave.