Miyon Hazrat Madrasa

History

The madrasa was built at the end of the 18th century, under the Ming dynasty, with funds from Miyon Ahad, a cleric and dignitary of the khanate who had moved to Kokand from Peshawar — hence its other name, the Miyon Ahad Madrasa. The celebrated 19th-century poet and satirist Muhammad Aminkhoja Mukimi (1850–1903) studied here and spent much of his life in one of its cells. The madrasa was closed under Soviet rule.

Today the building is open to visitors as the Mukimi Cell Museum, a branch of the Kokand State Museum-Reserve, where the poet's life, manuscripts and works are displayed in the setting of a student's cell.

Architecture

The complex has three courtyards: two set along an east–west axis and a third adjoining them from the south. The eastern court measures 35 by 20 metres, the western 23 by 11 and the southern 32 by 26, each lined with cells. The main entrance, a portal with a dome but no tile facing, opens into the western part of the southern court, where you will also find the mosque and a small minaret in the south-east corner. The lecture hall is on the west side of the western court. An iwan once stood on the east side of the eastern court but has not survived.

Did you know?

Mukimi was born in Kokand and won fame for his satirical verse and his 'Travelogue'. His contemporaries included the poets Furqat, Muhyi, Oraziy and Tajalliy — in the late 19th century Kokand was the literary capital of the valley.