About Uzbekistan

At the other end of the square lie the neglected Khoja Abdul Aziz Madrassah and Kaliz Век Madrassah. These somewhat forlorn structures are caught in limbo due to the government's policies on religion: they can no longer function as religious buildings, but are surplus to other requirements and hence generally lie empty, collecting dust and pigeons where once their students trod. If you ask their guardians, they will be happy to let you inside to look around, and they may even give you a tour. Khoja Abdul Aziz Madrassah once held a fine collection of photos, including one of the emir's personal army on parade. The army enjoyed a wide repertoire of marching songs, one of which was entitled 'Our general is a brave man and does not fear the Bolsheviks'. A story runs that before a battle the emir's troops would dumbfound the enemy by falling to the ground for several seconds, waving their legs wildly in the air, as if in some mass epileptic fit, before resuming the fight. This strange custom apparently dates back to an early massacre by the Russian forces, which took place on the banks of a river. At the end of the rout the Russian troops proceeded to lay on the ground to shake the water out of their knee length boots. The astonished Bukharans naturally attributed some dastardly magic to the victors' bizarre convulsions and the manoeuvre passed swiftly into official military training.