Bukhara, Uzbekistan

Other Bukhara tourist places:

www.hansdewaele.com
Originally, the most important markets were the covered bazaars at street intersections. This one is the Jeweller's Bazaar, or Tak-i-Zargaran (literally, "Vault of the Jewellers"). It lies at the historic center of the city, the origin of the ancient street grid. The view here is north.

We've circled 90 degrees counterclockwise and are now looking west, down the original main street. On the far side is Poi Kalon.

Another of the toks, this one the Tok-i Sarrafon, or money-changer's bazaar. These bazaars were owned by the government, and merchants using stalls inside were readily taxed.

The toks today are devoted to tourist goods.
Bukhara was known as Bokhara in 19th and early 20th century English publications and as Buhe/Puhe（捕喝） in Tang Chinese.^[1]
Iranian-speaking Soghdians inhabited the area, and some centuries later the Persian language became dominant among them. Encyclopædia Iranica mentions that the name Bukhara is possibly derived from the Soghdian βuxārak (Place of Good Fortune).^[2]
Muhammad ibn Jafar Narshakhi in his History of Bukhara (completed 943-44 CE) mentions:
Bukhara has many names. One of its name was Numijkat. It has also been called "Bumiskat". It has 2 names in Arabic. One is "Madinat al Sufriya" meaning - "the copper city" and another is "Madinat Al Tujjar" meaning - "The city of Merchants". But, the name Bukhara is more known than all the other names. In Khorasan, there is no other city with so many names^[3]

[edit] History

Main article: History of Bukhara

[edit] Major sights

Fitzroy Maclean, then a young diplomat in the British Embassy in Moscow, made a surreptitious visit to Bokhara in 1938, sight-seeing and sleeping in parks. In his memoir Eastern Approaches, he judged it an "enchanted city", with buildings that rivalled "the finest architecture of the Italian Renaissance".


Pоi Kаlоn Complex (12-14 century)
left: Mir-i Arab Madrassah; center: Minâra-i Kalân; right: Masjid-i Kalân

[edit] Po-i-Kalan complex

Kalyan or Kalon Minor (Great Minaret)
Main article: Po-i-Kalyan
The title Po-i Kalan (also Poi Kalân, Persian پای کلان meaning the "Grand Foundation"), belongs to the architectural complex located at the base of the great minaret Kalân.

• 
  Kalyan minaret. More properly, Minâra-i Kalân, (Pesian/Tajik for the "Grand Minaret"). It is made in the form of a circular-pillar brick tower, narrowing upwards, of 9 meters (29.53 ft) diameter at the bottom, 6 meters (19.69 ft) overhead and 45.6 meters (149.61 ft) high. Also known as the Tower of Death, as for centuries criminals were executed by being tossed off the top.
  

•