Bukhara

Bukhara is Central Asia’s holiest city with a history and buildings spanning thousand of years. The old centre retains the look it had two centuries ago.  During Uzbekistan travel, the city is crammed with madrasas, minarets, a huge royal fortress and the remnants of a once-vast market complex. On Uzbekistan tours, it takes at least two days to do justice to the city with its over 140 protected buildings. It has been called a city/museum. Once again, it benefitted from its location on the Silk Road and served as a centre of trade, scholarship, culture and religion. The historic centre of Bukhara has been listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.  Due to an inadequate water system, Bukhara has a plague which wiped out many inhabitants in the 19th Century. However, this was subsequently modernized. 

Some of the major sites on Uzbekistan tours to Bukhara include the following. The Kalan Mosque completed in the 16th Century is approximately the same size as the Bibi-Khanym Mosque in Samarkand. It can accommodate 12,000 people.  The Kalan Minaret was known as the Tower of Death as it was where criminals were executed by being thrown off the top. It dominates the historical centre of Bukhara as it is 46 metres/150 feet high. The spectacular-looking Ark, a town-within-a-town, is Bukhara’s oldest structure and was occupied from the 5th Century until 1920 when it was bombed by the Red Army. Most of it is in ruins except for some remaining royal quarters which house several museums including an archaeological museum and a nature museum. You can see the remains of the coronation court, the treasury and the harem.