Abdulaziz Khan Madrasah in Bukhara

In the historical center of Bukhara, not far from the Ulugbek Madrasah, there is a unique architectural structure. This is the Abulaziz Khan Madrasah. There is a legend connected with the construction of the madrasah.

Once, when the ruler of Bukhara, Abdulazizkhan, was about to make his sixth trip to Mecca and Medina, he had a dream at night of an old man who told him: "After returning from the trip, you will erect in your homeland such an architectural monument that will not be like other monuments in your country and let it embody earthly and unearthly life. For centuries, the people will enjoy it and remember you." Thus, after another trip to Hajj, Abdulazizkhan built a mosque that has worthily borne his name for centuries.

After returning from Mecca, the ruler of Bukhara, Abdulaziz Khan, called all the prominent masters and gave the order to build a new educational building. The chief court architect, Muhammad Salih, participated in the construction of the madrasah. The peculiarity of the decoration on the walls should be such a refraction of light that the image of the ruler should be reflected in one of the walls. But at that time, according to the Holy Quran, images of people on the walls were prohibited. Despite this, the masters worked hard on the construction. One day, Abdulaziz Khan decided to visit the construction. The work of the masters exceeded the ruler's expectations. After examining the work of the masters, he went to the right wing of the building. Having examined the images on the southern walls, he saw images of snakes and scorpions. They were the personification of difficulties and troubles. And the images in the northern part of the building depicted the gates of paradise, opening for people who patiently endure the troubles and hardships of this terrible world. Two images of a bear on the western wall of the khanaka meant that rank and wealth were given to people for testing, while in the eastern part of the walls there were verses from the Koran with the mention of Allah.

Having seen the work of the builders, Abdulazizkhan was indignant, his order was not carried out, the image of the ruler was not depicted and he decided to punish the master. But the master did not lose his head and asked to carefully study the mehrab of the building. In the middle there was a bouquet of flowers, where a small portrait of the ruler was placed. Abdulazizkhan was so impressed by the skill of the artists that he decided to renounce the throne and devote himself to prayer. And the construction of the madrasah remained unfinished.

Built several centuries later than the Ulugbek Madrasah (1417), the Abdulazizkhan Madrasah (1652) constitutes a single architectural historical appearance of Bukhara. It was with the beginning of the construction of the Abdulazizkhn Madrasah that the rapid development of eastern Central Asian architecture began, which brought to us such professionalism of the masters of that time. The Abdulazizkhan Madrasah is part of the "Historical Center of the City of Bukhara" and in 1993 it was included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

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