KALYAN MINARET, BUKHARA: THE SILK ROAD AGAIN

THE SILK ROAD

AGAIN

KALYAN MINARET

BUKHARA, UZBEKISTAN

THE SILK ROAD V: THE SHEPHERD BOY TENDS HIS FLOCK IN BUKHARA (UZBEKISTAN)

ON THE SILK ROAD

BUKHARA

UZBEKISTAN

THE SHEPHERD BOY

TENDS HIS FLOCK

BACK IN THE USSR

HERE BE GIANTS

THE SILK ROAD IV: BUKHARA

TIM ABDULLAH KHAN

© Gwendolyn Stewart 2010; All Rights Reserved

BUKHARA (UZBEKISTAN), USSR 1984

The man wears a helmet, the woman and the child (in the sidecar) take their chances. Or perhaps there was a law covering the driver of a motorcycle, and only the driver.

Bukhara, as we have seen, is an ancient Silk Road capital. The Tim Abdullah Khan (above) was a silk bazaar, dating back to 1577. There is a vivid description of its construction and role here. The practical result of this domed construction, for the visitor, is a drop of ten degrees in the summer heat when you enter into this covered marketplace.

THE SILK ROAD II: BASHFUL IN BUKHARA

BASHFUL IN BUKHARA

BUKHARA (UZBEKISTAN) USSR 1984 

STREET PHOTOGRAPHY 

ON FARAWAY STREETS 

You have been introduced to one of the monuments of the Silk Road city of Bukhara; now meet a few of its people. 

"HERE BE GIANTS" 

THE SILK ROAD I: NADIR DIVAN BEG MADRASA, BUKHARA

NADIR DIVAN BEG MADRASA 

Today, something from the world of Islam – something beautiful, and something a bit unusual. Shown above is a close-up of the pishtaq (a "portal projecting from the facade of a building") of the Nadir Divan Beg Madrasa in Bukhara, Uzbekistan. 

Bukhara is a Silk Road city, Persian-influenced, over two millennia old.   The UNESCO World Heritage Committee calls it "the most complete example of a medieval city in Central Asia." It was once "the largest center for Muslim theology in the Near East";  a madrasa (madrasah, medresseh) is a school, a school for the study of Islamic religion and thought. 

The Nadir Divan Beg Madrasa, built in 1622, was, the story goes, originally meant to be a caravanserai. This is supposed to somewhat soften the violation of the Islamic prohibition against the depiction of living creatures:  better on an inn for trading caravans than on a religious institution. 

But then, phoenixes (above) are only mythical, no?  And the human (man?) in the sun? As to the two white deer (one shown above), well, perhaps they may be called "stylized." 

When I visited Bukhara in 1984 and photographed the madrasa, Uzbekistan was part of the Soviet Union. Uzbekistan has been independent since the end of 1991.