10 guides

TOUR GUIDES

Bukhara city guide

Pick a place in Bukhara. Open the full story or choose a shorter read.

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Ulugh Beg and Abdulaziz Khan Madrasas

Text guide

Chor Minor gatehouse in Bukhara, with four turquoise-capped corner towers.

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Fayzulla Khodjaev House Museum

Text guide

Bukhara, Uzbekistan ✳

Religious ensemble & architecture

Poi Kalyan

01 / 10

Read the different jobs and different centuries of Bukhara's minaret, Friday mosque and religious school.♫

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Full story · About 2 min read✳

Bukhara tour guides

Explore Bukhara with ten free written guides, photos and a map. Read a Quick take or the Full story, and save guides for offline reading.

Poi Kalyan guide · Read the different jobs and different centuries of Bukhara's minaret, Friday mosque and religious school.

Ark Citadel guide · Look behind the enclosing wall to understand a working government, its service courts and the town lost in 1920.

Samanid Mausoleum guide · Follow the brick patterns and the square-to-dome structure of a tomb that once stood inside a cemetery.

Chashma Ayub guide · Separate the Job spring legend from the building history and read the unusual conical roof.

Lyabi Hauz guide · See how a useful reservoir gathered schools, hospitality and everyday social life around its edges.

Trading Domes guide · Follow three covered crossings and compare their jewellers, headwear sellers and money changers with an enclosed textile market.

Ulugh Beg and Abdulaziz Khan Madrasas guide · Compare two facing schools built more than two centuries apart, from a knowledge inscription to a portal with fabulous creatures.

Chor Minor guide · Recover the school behind a four-towered gateway and understand the modern reconstruction within its familiar silhouette.

Sitorai Mokhi Khosa guide · Notice how local ganch carving, mirrors and imported furnishings met in the last emirs' country residence.

Fayzulla Khodjaev House Museum guide · Move from a merchant father's decorated domestic rooms to the political career and repression of his son.

More places nearby

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Ark CitadelBukhara

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Samanid MausoleumBukhara

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Sources and photo credits

Photo: Poi Kalon.jpg by Madaniymeros.uz (Cultural Heritage Agency of the Republic of Uzbekistan) · CC BY 4.0. Resized and compressed; cropped for display.

Bukhara city guide

Explore Bukhara

Bukhara's old centre lets you move between a religious square, covered markets and a pool framed by schools. UNESCO's recognition of the city concerns this connected townscape as well as its individual buildings. The spaces in between help explain how the monuments worked.

Choose a short story or read more detail with 10 free guides to the city’s landmarks and neighbourhoods.

A religious square and two facing schools

Poi Kalyan is a useful place to begin understanding the different building types. Its older minaret, Friday mosque and religious school have separate functions and dates. The nearby madrasas of Ulugh Beg and Abdulaziz Khan make another comparison possible: two facing schools built more than two centuries apart.

Poi Kalyan

Read the different jobs and different centuries of Bukhara's minaret, Friday mosque and religious school.

Written guide · Full story · About 2 min read · Quick take

The tiled entrance portal and two-storey facade of Ulugh Beg Madrasa in Bukhara.

Ulugh Beg and Abdulaziz Khan Madrasas

Compare two facing schools built more than two centuries apart, from a knowledge inscription to a portal with fabulous creatures.

Written guide · Full story · About 2 min read · Quick take

Trade and the water supply

For the city's working life, follow the Trading Domes guide. The names of the covered crossings recall jewellers, hat sellers and money changers. Lyabi Hauz changes the subject from trade to water. Its pool served a practical need before it became one of the city's best known places to pause.

The domed brick Toki Zargaron market building seen from the west.

Trading Domes

Follow three covered crossings and compare their jewellers, headwear sellers and money changers with an enclosed textile market.

Written guide · Full story · About 2 min read · Quick take

Lyabi Hauz

See how a useful reservoir gathered schools, hospitality and everyday social life around its edges.

Written guide · Full story · About 1 min read · Quick take

Power and political change

The Ark introduces government and the events of 1920. Read it alongside Sitorai Mokhi Khosa, the last emirs' country residence north of the old city. Fayzulla Khodjaev's house provides another view of the same period, through a merchant family and the son who became a political leader.

Ark Citadel

Look behind the enclosing wall to understand a working government, its service courts and the town lost in 1920.

Written guide · Full story · About 2 min read · Quick take

Sitorai Mokhi Khosa

Notice how local ganch carving, mirrors and imported furnishings met in the last emirs' country residence.

Written guide · Full story · About 2 min read · Quick take

Fayzulla Khodjaev House Museum

Move from a merchant father's decorated domestic rooms to the political career and repression of his son.

Written guide · Full story · About 2 min read · Quick take

Brickwork, a spring and a rebuilt gateway

For brickwork, choose the Samanid Mausoleum. Its small chamber and patterned surfaces deserve close attention. Nearby Chashma Ayub combines a spring legend with a building altered over several centuries. Chor Minor, the gateway to a later madrasa, adds the question of modern reconstruction after one of its four towers collapsed.

Samanid Mausoleum

Follow the brick patterns and the square-to-dome structure of a tomb that once stood inside a cemetery.

Written guide · Full story · About 2 min read · Quick take

Chashma Ayub

Separate the Job spring legend from the building history and read the unusual conical roof.

Written guide · Full story · About 2 min read · Quick take

Chor Minor

Recover the school behind a four-towered gateway and understand the modern reconstruction within its familiar silhouette.

Written guide · Full story · About 2 min read · Quick take

Plan around the places you want to enter

The mosque, madrasas, museums and palace have different uses and access arrangements. Check the relevant institution's current information before making an interior visit central to your plans. The guides give no ticket prices, opening-hour guarantees or booked access.

Several stories remain understandable from their setting and exterior. Museum interiors add material about domestic life, craft and political history. Sitorai Mokhi Khosa is a separate excursion north of the central group, so allow for the journey when choosing what to combine.

These guides are written in English, with a shared opening for Quick take and Full story. No audio accompanies this collection.

Questions about exploring Bukhara

Are these Bukhara guides free?

Yes. All ten written guides are free to read in English. Admission, transport and booked tours are separate.

Is audio available?

This collection currently offers written Quick take and Full story versions. Audio is not available.

Can I read the guides offline?

Yes. Save a guide from its three-dot menu while online, then open it from Downloads on this device. Map tiles are not included.

Is this a walking itinerary?

No. The map helps you choose places. The guides do not provide a measured route or guarantee entry to an interior.

More city guides

Sources and visitor information

Photo credits

Photo: Poi Kalon.jpg by Madaniymeros.uz (Cultural Heritage Agency of the Republic of Uzbekistan) · CC BY 4.0. Resized and compressed; cropped for display.

Photo: Ark Citadel.jpg by RK · CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized and compressed; cropped for display.

Photo: Samanid mausoleum bukhara.jpg by Hylgeriak / Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0. Resized and compressed; cropped for display.

Photo: Chashma-Ayub Mausoleum outside view 2.JPG by Faqscl · CC BY-SA 3.0. Resized and compressed; cropped for display.

Photo: Labi Hovuz 02.jpg by Humoyun Mehridinov · CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized and compressed; cropped for display.

Photo: Toq-i-Zargoron from the west.jpg by Ymblanter · CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized and compressed; cropped for display.

Photo: Бухара, медресе Улугбека (2).jpg by Nikolai Bulykin · CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized and compressed; cropped for display.

Photo: Бухара, медресе Чор Минор (1).jpg by ElenaLitera · CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized and compressed; cropped for display.

Photo: Le palais dété Sitori-i-Mokhi Khosa (Boukhara, Ouzbékistan) (5712807997).jpg by Jean-Pierre Dalbéra from Paris, France · CC BY 2.0. Resized and compressed; cropped for display.

Photo: Fayzullo Xojayev house-museum.jpg by GMM · CC BY-SA 3.0. Resized and compressed; cropped for display.