Namazgoh of Bukhara

History and architecture

After the Islamic conquest Bukhara held its festival prayers on the Registan, but by the 9th century the square had grown too small and the prayer ground moved some three kilometres out of town. In the 12th century the Qarakhanid Arslan Khan decided townspeople should not stray so far that the city's defences were weakened, so he bought the Shamsabad garden and in 1119–1120 built a namazgoh there — a fired-brick wall about 38 m long with a mihrab.

The mihrab is decorated with intricate geometric and floral patterns, carving and glazed tiles. The namazgoh was repaired and enlarged in the 14th century on Timur's orders and again in the 16th century under Abdullah Khan II. The city has since grown around it, and it has lost its original role.