Uzbekistan (August 2023): Tashkent, Shakhrisabz, and Langar

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The main goal of my 2023 trip to Uzbekistan was to hike in the country's southern mountains. I spent very little time in Tashkent and Shakhrisabz, that I had visited on previous trips. The visit to Langar (sometimes spelled Langyar, located 65 kilometers south of Shakhrisabz) was a more deliberate addition: its old mausoleum and mosque had piqued my interest.

Tashkent:

Bread making in the Chorsu Bazaar.

Kaffal Shashi Mausoleum (late 16th century). It is the resting place Mohammed Kaffal Shashi, a native poet and scholar who lived in the 10th century and, as a yound adult, traveled throughout the Islamic world.

[Right photo: grave of Mohammed Kaffal Shashi.]

Kaldyrgach Bey Mausoleum (15th century), with its unique turquoise dodecahedral conical roof (domed in the interior). It probably honors a 15th-century ruler of Moguilstan. The shape of the roof might have been inspired by the tents of the nomadic tribes of Mogulistan.

Sheikhantur Mausoleum. It honors Sheikh Hovendi Tahur, a 14th-century Sufi, who claimed descent from the Rashidun Caliph Umar (584-644). It consists of two rooms. The first contains the grave of the Sufi saint, marked by a cenotaph carved from white marble and finely incised with Arabic calligraphy. Strangely, a weathered tree trunk rests against the dome. The second room contains the graves of his wife ans son.

Mix of Islamic and Russian burial traditions in the Chagatai cemetery.

Traditional Islamic Uzbek graves in the Fozil-Ota cemetery.

Japanese war cemetery in the Fozil-Ota cemetery. It contains the graves of 79 Japanese war prisoners who ended up here after WWII.

Shakhrisabz:

Recently built Xo'jamurod Bahshi mosque.

Abdushukur Agalik Madrasah (19th century).

Chorsu covered bazaar (early 17th century).

Women weavers in the Chorsu.

Left: Woman at the entrance of the main prayer room of the Kok-Gumbaz mosque. Right: Women in the domed galleries of the Kok-Gumbaz mosque.

Portions of the domed galleries of the Kok-Gumbaz mosque.

Finely decorated doors in the domed galleries of the Kok-Gumbaz mosque.

Crypt thought to have been built by Timur in order to be entombed here. However, he was eventually buried in Gur-I Amir in Samarkand, and this crypt remained empty.

In the Mausoleum of Sheikh Shamsuddin Kulyol.

Cenotaphs in the Gumbazi Saidon Mausoleum.

Langar:

View of the Langar's canyon just before arriving at the village. (Some houses of Langar are visible in the second photo below.)

Farms outside the village of Langar.

Scenes of the Sunday Langar market:

Mr. Ozof Touraev, my host in Langar, to the left, with three of his friends encountered on the Langar market.

Mausoleum of Mohammed Sadik, a famous 16th-century Sufi leader, built on a hill and surrounded by the village cemetery. The four spheres above the dome symbolize the four paths to God.

Left: Visitors and worshippers returning from the mausoleum. Right: The mausoleum and old cenotaphs exposed on a platform.

The interior of the mausoleum houses four graves, including the ones of Mohammed Sadik (middle photo below) and his father.

Decorated domed ceiling above the graves.

Tombs in the village cemetery around the mausoleum. The tomb on the left is the one of a woman who died in 2006 at the age of 106 years. I was told that she was famous for both her knowledge of local medicinal plants and her love of cats (on her tombstone, she is represented with a cat on her side), two facts that may explain her longevity.

Facade of the Friday mosque (16th century). The mosque has two rectangular indoor prayer halls, located behind a 10-column iwan used as a summer mosque. The iwan and the indoor prayer rooms have intricate wooden ceilings supported by finely carved columns.

Imam of the mosque studying in the left corner of the iwan.

In the prayer room on the left, behind the iwan.

In the prayer room on the right, behind the iwan.

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