Uzbekistan | Bukhara | History | Architectural monuments | Slideshow

Bukhara ([buxɔːˈɾɔː]; Uzbek: Buxoro/Бухоро; Tajik: Бухоро, [buxɔːˈɾɔː]) is the fifth-largest city in Uzbekistan, with a population of 247,644 as of 31 August 2016, and the capital of Bukhara Region. People have inhabited the region around Bukhara for at least five millennia, and the city has existed for half that time.
Located on the Silk Road, the city has long served as a center of trade, scholarship, culture, and religion. The mother tongue of the majority of people of Bukhara is Tajik, a dialect of the Persian language. although Uzbek is spoken as a second language by most residents. Bukhara served as the capital of the Samanid Empire and Khanate of Bukhara and was the birthplace of Imam Bukhari. The city has been known as "Noble Bukhara" (Bukhārā-ye sharīf). Bukhara has about 140 architectural monuments. UNESCO has listed the historic center of Bukhara (which contains numerous mosques and madrasas) as a World Heritage Site. The history of Bukhara stretches back millennia. In medieval times, Bukhara served as the capital of the Samanid Empire, Khanate of Bukhara and was the birthplace of Imam Bukhari. Bukhara lies west of Samarkand and was previously a focal point of learning eminent all through the Islamic world. It is the old neighborhood of the incomparable Sheik Naqshbandi. He was a focal figure in the advancement of the mysterious Sufi way to deal with theory, religion and Islam.[10] It is now the capital of Bukhara Region (viloyat) of Uzbekistan. Located on the Silk Road, the city has long been a center of trade, scholarship, culture, and religion. During the golden age of the Samanids,[11] Bukhara became a major intellectual center of the Islamic world. The historic center of Bukhara, which contains numerous mosques and madrassas, has been listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Amir Alim Khan, the last emir of Bukhara, circa 1911 Minister of Interior, Bukhara, circa 1905–1915 The Samanid Empire seized Bukhara, the capital of Greater Khorasan, in 903 CE.[12] Genghis Khan besieged Bukhara for 15 days in 1220 CE.[13][14] As an important trading centre, Bukhara was home to a community of medieval Indian merchants from the city of Multan (modern-day Pakistan) who were noted to own land in the city.[15] Bukhara under siege by Red Army troops and burning, September 1, 1920 Bukhara was the last capital of the Emirate of Bukhara and was besieged by the Red Army during the Russian Civil War. During the Bukhara operation of 1920, Red Army troops under the command of Bolshevik general Mikhail Frunze attacked the city of Bukhara. On 31 August 1920, the Emir Alim Khan fled to Dushanbe in Eastern Bukhara (later he escaped from Dushanbe to Kabul in Afghanistan). On 2 September 1920, after four days of fighting, the emir's citadel (the Ark) was destroyed, the red flag was raised from the top of Kalyan Minaret. On 14 September 1920, the All-Bukharan Revolutionary Committee was set up, headed by A. Mukhitdinov. The government—the Council of People's Nazirs (see nāẓir)—was presided over by Faizullah Khojaev. The Bukharan People's Soviet Republic existed from 1920 to 1925 when the city was integrated into the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic. 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". In the latter half of the 20th century, the war in Afghanistan and civil war in Tajikistan brought Dari- and Tajik-speaking refugees into Bukhara and Samarkand. Ark fortress (11th- 20thcc.), Bolo-Hauz ensemble (early 18th- 20thcc.) Balyand Mosque - (early 16thc.) Chasma-Ayub Mazar (1380 or 1385) Chor-Minor Madrassah (1807) Gaukushon ensemble (Mosque, Minaret, Madrassah) (16thc.) Khanaka Faizabad (1598-99) Khanaka and madrassah of Nadir Divan-Beghi (1620) Khanaka of Zainutdin-Hadji (1555) Kalyan Minaret (1127) Kalyan Mosque (early 16thc.) Kukeldash Madrassah (1568-69) Lyabi-Hauz ensemble (1620) Madrassah of Abdulaziz-khan (1652) Madrassah of Abdulla-khan (1588-1590) Madrassah of Madariy-khan (1567) Magoki-Attari Mosque (10th-16thcc.) Mausoleum of Amir Kulal (beginning of the 21st c.) Mausoleum of the Samanids (the 9th-1Othcc.) Mausoleum of Saifetdin Boharziy (late 13th-14thcc.) Mausoleum of Buyan Kulikhan (late 14thc., 15th or 16thc.) Memorial complex of Gijduvani (beginning of the 21st c.) Miri-Arab Madrassah (16thc.) Necropolis of Sheikh Bahaaddin Naqshband (16thc.) Sitorai-Mohi-Hosa Palace (late 19th c. - early 20th cc.) Poi-Kalyan ensemble (12th-14thcc.) The out-of-town Mosque Namazgoh (12th- 16thcc.) The Jubariy Sheikhs' family cemetery Chor-Bakr (1563) Toki-Zargaron, Toki-Sarrafon, Toki-Tilpak-Furushon - shopping mall (15th-16thcc.) Ulugbek Madrassah(1417) Zindan - Emir's prison in Bukhara (18th c.)