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Kalan Mosque

Bukhara's great Friday mosque beside the Kalan minaret, completed in 1514 on the site of earlier mosques, with a courtyard for about 12,000 people.

Ensembles1514 (earlier mosques from the 12th century)About 30 minutes to see

About the place

Masjidi Kalon means "great mosque". Excavations show at least two older mosques beneath it, the lowest built by the Karakhanid ruler Arslan Khan in the early 12th century, when it was the largest mosque in Transoxiana. The present building was completed in 1514 under the Shaybanid Ubaydullah Khan.

It is the second-largest surviving Friday mosque in Central Asia after Bibi-Khanym. The courtyard is ringed by vaulted galleries carrying 288 small domes on 208 pillars, with an iwan in the middle of each side. Together with the Kalan minaret and the Mir-i Arab madrasa, it forms the Poi Kalon square at the heart of the old town.

Why go

  • Courtyard galleries with 288 domes
  • Beside the 12th-century Kalan minaret
  • Heart of the Poi Kalon ensemble

Sources (5)

  1. 1.Wikidata
  2. 2.en.wikipedia.org
  3. 3.ru.wikipedia.org
  4. 4.uz.wikipedia.org
  5. 5.openstreetmap.org

Nearby

  • Po-i-Kalyan ensembleEnsembles

    Under 1 km awayUNESCO World Heritage

    Po-i-Kalyan ensemble

    The square at the centre of old Bukhara: the Kalyan Minaret of 1127, the large Kalyan Mosque and the working Mir-i-Arab madrasa facing it.

  • Kunjak MadrasaEnsembles

    Under 1 km away

    Kunjak Madrasa

    A small nineteenth-century madrasa from the Mangit period on Amiriy street in old Bukhara, now used for tourist services.

  • Amir Alim Khan MadrasaEnsembles

    Under 1 km away

    Amir Alim Khan Madrasa

    A madrasa of 1914–1915 beside Mir-i-Arab on the Poi Kalyan square in Bukhara, the last founded by a Bukharan emir; now a library.

  • Mir-i-Arab MadrasaEnsembles

    Under 1 km away

    Mir-i-Arab Madrasa

    The 16th-century madrasa facing the Kalyan Mosque on Bukhara's Poi Kalyan square, still a working Islamic school today.