The mausoleum of Buyan Kuli Khan

At the beginning of the XIII century, the territory of Transoxiana was under the rule of the Mongols and came under the control of the second son of Genghis Khan – Chagatai. So the Chagatai ulus was formed, which was ruled for a long time by the descendants of Chagatai. For almost a century and a half of their rule in the state there was stagnation in architecture, creativity and art, since the Chagatai ulus was the place of constant military invasions. Only with the coming to power of the Temurids, at the end of the XIV century, urban planning and art flourished in Transoxiana. It is for these reasons that historical monuments of the pre-Temurids era are considered unique objects of history and architecture. There are two such unique monuments on the territory of Bukhara: The Mausoleum of Buyan Kuli Khan and the Mausoleum of Sayf ad Din Boharzi, which are located close to each other and form a single ensemble.

The village of Fatkhabad, located in Bukhara, is famous for the fact that here is the grave of the Sufi sheikh, poet and theologian Sayf ad Din Boharzi, known throughout the Muslim world, who was popularly called the “Sheikh of the World”. Nearby is the grave of the khan of the Chagatai ulus, the Buyan Kuli Khan. Once, the entire Rabad district (the outskirts of the city), where these graves are located, was occupied only by numerous khanakas (Sufi monastery) of the Kubravi Order.

Buyan Kuli Khan, long considered a marionette of Emir Kazaghan, ruled Bukhara for a decade. The Mongols, who for a long time were considered pagans and worshipped shamans on the territory of Transoxiana, treated Sufi sheikhs with great respect. In this regard, most of them began to convert to Islam. Buyan Kuli Khan was a disciple of one of the great Sufi sheikhs Sayf ad Din Boharzi and one of the first to adopt a new religion. One of the evidences of the piety of Buyan Kuli Khan are coins minted at that time, on which is engraved: “Great is Sultan Buyan Kuli Bahadur Khan, may Allah prolong his reign.” In 1358, after Kazaghan was killed, power passed into the hands of his son, Abd-Allah, who, according to legends, killed the Buyan Kuli Khan because of love for his wife. 

Khan was buried opposite the grave of his revered Sayf ad Din Boharzi, where a mausoleum was erected to him, which has survived to this day and now is one of the unique objects of cultural heritage of Uzbekistan. 

The mausoleum of cubic shape, with semicircular columns at the corners, consists of two halls, the entrance to which is through the eastern side of the mausoleum. The entrance is made in the traditional style of medieval Central Asia, decorated with a peshtak (richly decorated portal niche, in the form of a vertical rectangle with a pointed arch, the height of which exceeds the height of the building itself) with terracotta tiles. 

The building is built of burnt brick, and its facade is decorated with polychrome ceramics, tricolor cloisonné majolica with geometric and floral patterns, as well as Kufic inscriptions. The volume of the drawing is given by the relief carving on the plaster. 

The first hall, which is crowned by a sky-colored dome, serves for the performance of prayer by believers and is called the prayer hall. In the second hall, smaller in size, there is the tomb of Buyan Kuli Khan, whose tombstone is decorated with majolica. 

The dome of the first hall is decorated from the inside with elegant cellular tromps (keeled arched niches at the base of the dome in the form of honeycomb - mukarnas). 

In the walls of the mausoleum there are passageways – galleries leading to the roof of the building. 

The monument of architecture of the XIV century attracts tourists and believers from all over the world.