Dakhma-i-Shakhon

History

Dakhma-i-Shakhon, the 'tomb of kings', is the necropolis of members of the Kokand ruling dynasty — Narbuta Biy and his descendants. It was built in the 1820s, in the time of Umar Khan and his successors; Wikidata gives the date as 1825. The monument is now part of the Kokand State Museum-Reserve.

Next to it stands the Modari Khan Mausoleum, built for the khan's mother, so the two are easily visited together.

Architecture

You enter from the west through a portal measuring 9.4 by 11.7 metres, flanked by towers. It is faced with glazed brick and tiles: dark-blue patterns on the sides, eight-pointed stars of blue, green and white tiles in the centre, and red, pink, green and white hexagons and lozenges above the arch. The door is carved with floral ornament and Arabic inscriptions. The building is domed; of the openings in its inner walls, one leads to the roof and another to the mosque. The small iwan mosque alongside (7 by 6.8 metres) stands on two columns, its ceiling divided into four painted coffers.

Did you know?

Narbuta Biy's reign is remembered as a time of relative calm and prosperity: he patronised learning, and several madrasas were built in Kokand under his rule. His sons Alim Khan and Umar Khan later took the throne and turned Kokand into a true khanate capital.