Blog 6

 Hi

Today we went Khoja Zayniddin

In Bukhara's backstreets between Hoja Nurabad and Islamov, across from the Ark on Hoja Nurabad, the interior of the 16th-century Hoja Zayniddin Mosque has a tremendous aivan and some of the best original mosaic and ghanch-work you're going to see anywhere.

Design and Description

Like all mosques in central Asia, the mosque is organized around an east-west axis canted to the south, toward Mecca, with the qibla wall to the west. The ideal mosque is symmetrical, but the dense urban fabric of 16th century Bukhara likely necessitated a compromise, such that the angle of the building's south and west facades (facing the street) are out of kilter with the primary axis. 

The Hoja Zayniddin is a mid-16th century mosque located at the junction of two side streets 300 meters southwest of the Po-i-Kalyan square within the shahr-i-darun, or "inner city". Although its interior houses are the grandest dome in Bukhara, very little of substance is known about the origin of the building—both its sponsor and its architect have been lost to the mists of time. Even so, the quality of construction, its proximity to the heart of the city, and its large footprint strongly suggest it was a product of the city's ruling elite, or even of the Khan himself.

Overall we are really excited to be this place