Historical and Cultural Places

BOLOHOVUZ MASJIDI

Buxoro viloyati | Abu Xafsi Kabir ko‘chasi.

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The large domed prayer hall and the single-columned iwan of the Bolo Hauz Mosque were built in 1712 through the patronage of Sitorai Mohi Khossa, the mother of the Uzbek ruler Abulfayz Khan. The courtyard and residential cells were constructed later, in the nineteenth century.

According to M. Y. Saidjonov, the mosque’s iwan was reconstructed between 1915 and 1917 and expanded into a three-section iwan. The original minaret did not survive. In 1917, a new minaret with a different architectural design was built by the master craftsmen Usta Shirin Murodov and Usta Hafizov.

The mosque served as a place for Friday congregational prayers.

Architecture

The building has a square plan measuring 11.5 × 11.5 meters. The Bolo Hauz Mosque is decorated with intricate relief and shield-shaped ornamental patterns. Its mihrab is adorned with elegant decorative carvings.

The plastered entrance portal is located on the eastern side of the mosque, and its lower sections are decorated with stucco ornamentation. On both sides of the portal stand two-story cells with tall niches.

The mosque’s iwan is supported by twenty tall and slender wooden columns. The niches along the side walls of the iwan are richly decorated with ornamental designs. The iwan and its elaborately decorated ceiling, from which chandeliers are suspended, are particularly magnificent.

Viewed from Registan Square, the mosque presents a striking composition consisting of its elegant iwan, a small minaret, and the pool located in front of it. The banks of the pool are reinforced with large stones and equipped with stepped descents leading to the water.