Namazgoh Mosque

A namazgoh is an open-air prayer ground used for the two Eid festivals, when far more people gathered than any mosque could hold, and a prayer site is thought to have existed here since Samanid times. The Karakhanid ruler Shams al-Mulk built one in the 11th century, and in 1119–1120 Muhammad Arslan Khan replaced it with a new brick wall facing Mecca, with a mihrab and a place for the nobility.

That 12th-century mihrab, decorated with carved and glazed tiles in geometric and floral patterns, is the heart of what you see; galleries were added later, up to the 16th century. The city has since grown around it, so it stands in a residential area in the south-west of Bukhara, away from the main tourist streets.

• A 12th-century Karakhanid mihrab
• An Eid prayer ground with roots in Samanid times
• Off the usual tourist route in south Bukhara