Gishtli Mosque

History

The Gishtli ('brick') Mosque is one of the youngest of Kokand's historic mosques. Local builders raised it in the early 20th century — in 1913, according to Wikidata — for their own neighbourhood, or guzar, using fired brick, which gave it its name. By then Kokand was part of the Russian Empire and divided into a new and an old town, and the mosque shows how traditional neighbourhood life carried on in the old quarter. It is now protected as a cultural heritage site of national importance.

Architecture

The building is symmetrical: an east-facing iwan and a winter hall of equal area, 7.8 by 18.4 metres. The entrance gatehouse forms a single ensemble with the rest in both design and ornament. It has three parts — three pointed entrance arches, a raised rectangular centre and four hexagonal domed lanterns that crown the composition — and is decorated with mosaic tiles. The roofing of the summer prayer space and the ornament of the portal make it a distinctive example of 20th-century Fergana architecture.

Did you know?

While the mosque was going up, Kokand's new town was acquiring European-style buildings such as the Russo-Asian Bank and the Potelyakhov and Vadyayev houses. Old-town craftsmen meanwhile carried on the traditional style in neighbourhood mosques — which is why Kokand preserves two architectural worlds side by side.