Mosques in Uzbekistan

The Bibi-Khanym Mosque, at the top of the pedestrian street from the Registan, is a monument rather than a working mosque: you pay at the gate to walk the courtyard, where a giant marble Quran stand sits under the restored main dome. Go early, then cross to Siab Bazaar next door.

The Registan itself is a square of three madrasas: Ulugh Beg’s of the 1420s, the Sher-Dor with its tiger mosaics, and the Tilla-Kari, whose mosque has a gilded interior. They now hold craft shops, and one ticket covers all three. Up the hill, Shah-i-Zinda is an avenue of tiled tombs around the grave of Kusam ibn Abbas, a cousin of the Prophet, and still an active pilgrimage site; dress modestly and keep your voice down. The small Hazrat Khizr Mosque, with a painted wooden porch, overlooks the old city and stands next to the tomb of Uzbekistan’s first president.

North of the city, the memorial complex of Imam al-Bukhari, the compiler of the most respected collection of hadith, is a major pilgrimage site and a half-day trip by taxi.

Bukhara once claimed a mosque for every day of the year. The Kalan Mosque, completed in the early 16th century, has a courtyard for about 10,000 worshippers and arcades of brick domes; it reopened for prayer after independence and admits visitors outside prayer times for a small fee. Across the square, the Mir-i-Arab madrasa still trains imams, so visitors only see the entrance hall. The Kalyan Minaret of 1127 between them survived Genghis Khan.

The Bolo Haouz Mosque of 1712, opposite the Ark, is the city’s other working mosque, with a tall wooden porch of slender painted columns mirrored in the pool in front. Magok-i-Attari, sunk several metres below today’s street, is one of the oldest mosques in Central Asia, built over a pre-Islamic temple; it now houses a carpet museum. Smaller gems include the Baland Mosque with a fine painted ceiling and Magok-i-Kurpa near the trading domes.

Outside town, the shrine of Bahauddin Naqshband, founder of the Naqshbandi Sufi order, is Bukhara’s holiest site and a short taxi ride away.

Inside the walls of Itchan Kala, the Juma Mosque is a single low hall without domes or courtyard, lit from two openings in the roof and held up by about 213 carved elm columns, a few of them centuries older than the present building. Climb its minaret for a view over the old town. The small Ak Mosque of the 17th century, by the east gate, has a carved wooden doorway and a white dome. Both are on the Itchan Kala combined ticket; the Pahlavon Mahmud mausoleum, Khiva’s most revered shrine, where pilgrims drink from the well, may charge a small separate fee.

Tashkent’s religious centre is the Hazrati Imam complex in the old city, with a modern mosque, a madrasa and a library that keeps the Uthman Quran, one of the oldest surviving Quran manuscripts. The Dzhuma Mosque next to Chorsu Bazaar is the old Friday mosque, and the white Minor Mosque by the Ankhor canal is a newer favourite. For a change of faith, the red-brick Sacred Heart Cathedral is the city’s Catholic church. In the Fergana Valley, Kokand’s Juma Mosque has a long wooden porch on carved columns.

Uzbekistan is a secular state and non-Muslims are welcome in almost every mosque, madrasa and shrine. Cover shoulders and knees; women should carry a scarf for working mosques and shrines, where it is expected, while museum mosques and the Registan do not require it. Take your shoes off before carpeted prayer halls. Avoid the five daily prayers and especially Friday midday prayers, when working mosques close to sightseers. Photograph buildings freely but never people praying, and ask at shrines.

Most monument mosques and madrasas charge foreigners a modest ticket, while working mosques are usually free or ask a small donation. Opening hours run roughly from 8am or 9am to sunset, later in summer. During Ramadan, eat and drink discreetly near mosques in daylight. Our first-timer’s guide covers wider etiquette, and the historic sites page covers the mausoleums, fortresses and ruins around these mosques.