20140929_Uzbekistan_0512 Bukhara
The portal to the Nadir Divan-Begi Madrasa (Islamic school) is notable for its unusual decoration. Islam prohibits the depiction of living creatures yet the tilework shows two peacocks with lambs in their talons flanking a sun with a human face. Although originally built as a caravanserai (roadside inn), at the opening ceremony in 1622 the khan declared that it was made in the glory of Allah and should thus be converted into a madrasa. Nadir Divan-Begi was the khan’s treasury minister who had financed the construction.
By 500 BCE the settlements at the Bukhara oasis had grown enough that a walled city was founded. Bukhara prospered as a trading center, especially benefitting from its location along the Silk Road. Christianity may have been the official religion of the ruling caste in the late-7th/early-8th centuries as more coins with crosses have been found in Bukhara than anywhere else in Central Asia. However, after the Arabs finally conquered Bukhara in 751, Islam gradually became the dominant religion. In 892 the Samanids (a Sunni Persian empire) moved their capital from Samarkand to Bukhara which then grew to become the intellectual center of the Islamic world with the largest population by far of any city in Central Asia and rivaling Baghdad in its glory. The Samanid Empire was toppled in 999. In 1220 the city was leveled by the Mongols led by Genghis Khan but managed to slowly recover. In 1868 the Emirate of Bukhara was forced to become a protectorate of the Russian Empire. After the attack of the Red Army of the Bolsheviks in 1920, the Bukharan People’s Soviet Republic was formed with the bulk of it then integrated into the Uzbek SSR in 1925 (smaller portions going to present-day Tajikistan and Turkmenistan). In August 1991 Uzbekistan declared its independence.
The Historic Centre of Bukhara became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993.
[The term ‘Silk Road’ was coined in 1877 by German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen. The Silk Road contributed not only to the exchange of goods and technologies, but also to the mutual enrichment of cultures and traditions of different peoples. Direct maritime trade between Europe and the Far East ultimately supplanted the overland route.]
On Google Earth:
Nadir Divan-Begi Madrasa 39°46'23.37"N, 64°25'16.99"E
20140929_Uzbekistan_0512 Bukhara
The portal to the Nadir Divan-Begi Madrasa (Islamic school) is notable for its unusual decoration. Islam prohibits the depiction of living creatures yet the tilework shows two peacocks with lambs in their talons flanking a sun with a human face. Although originally built as a caravanserai (roadside inn), at the opening ceremony in 1622 the khan declared that it was made in the glory of Allah and should thus be converted into a madrasa. Nadir Divan-Begi was the khan’s treasury minister who had financed the construction.
By 500 BCE the settlements at the Bukhara oasis had grown enough that a walled city was founded. Bukhara prospered as a trading center, especially benefitting from its location along the Silk Road. Christianity may have been the official religion of the ruling caste in the late-7th/early-8th centuries as more coins with crosses have been found in Bukhara than anywhere else in Central Asia. However, after the Arabs finally conquered Bukhara in 751, Islam gradually became the dominant religion. In 892 the Samanids (a Sunni Persian empire) moved their capital from Samarkand to Bukhara which then grew to become the intellectual center of the Islamic world with the largest population by far of any city in Central Asia and rivaling Baghdad in its glory. The Samanid Empire was toppled in 999. In 1220 the city was leveled by the Mongols led by Genghis Khan but managed to slowly recover. In 1868 the Emirate of Bukhara was forced to become a protectorate of the Russian Empire. After the attack of the Red Army of the Bolsheviks in 1920, the Bukharan People’s Soviet Republic was formed with the bulk of it then integrated into the Uzbek SSR in 1925 (smaller portions going to present-day Tajikistan and Turkmenistan). In August 1991 Uzbekistan declared its independence.
The Historic Centre of Bukhara became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993.
[The term ‘Silk Road’ was coined in 1877 by German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen. The Silk Road contributed not only to the exchange of goods and technologies, but also to the mutual enrichment of cultures and traditions of different peoples. Direct maritime trade between Europe and the Far East ultimately supplanted the overland route.]
On Google Earth:
Nadir Divan-Begi Madrasa 39°46'23.37"N, 64°25'16.99"E