About Uzbekistan

Khoja-Gaukushon one of the most beautiful architectural ensembles in the center of Bukhara, included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. The ensemble received its name from its location: Gaukushon means "killing bulls" and before the complex construction there used to be a large trading square of Bukhara along with a slaughterhouse. The ensemble includes madrassas and a cathedral mosque with a high Hoja Kalon minaret, which is inferior in size only to Kalyan minaret.

The Madressa Gaukushon was built in 1570 under the rule of the Uzbek khan Abdullah Khan II and had a traditional yard layout. The trapezoidal form of the building is explained by its location on the fork of the streets. Buildings in the Gaukushoon Square were built with the money of Sheikh Hoja Said, known under the nickname "Khodja Kalon" ("great hoja"), which is reflected in the name of the mosque and the whole complex. In 1598, from the north of the madrasah, a Friday mosque, called the Hoja Mosque, was built. Khodja Kalon is buried in the family necropolis of the Djuibar Sheikhs in Chor Bakr.

Monuments that make up the Gaukushon Ensemble are built in typical of the XVI century technique - these are three-layer walls, mesh decorative arches, rude, bright majolica, tile mosaic. Each monument itself does not have a great artistic value. However, in aggregate, they create a surprisingly whole miniature city ensemble next to the noisy shopping mall.

In the interpretation of the architects of Bukhara, the concept of architecture is revealed in a peculiar way. In their opinion, the main place in architecture should be the organization of the interior - Ichkori. The next "interior" is the courtyard, the shape of which forms the facades of all buildings, green plantations and hauzes. It was precisely this inter-quarter "interior" that was formed in the center of Bukhara in the XIX century after erecting another madrassah opposite the Khoja mosque, as well as the buildings of the European architecture, in which a branch of the Russian State Bank was located. From the north, the "patio" was closed by residential houses.