Baxtiyorova Sarvara

 Assalom aleykum everybody . 

    Today 5th April we made a start the second day of our practice. The weather was cold like yesterday . At any rate  we met beside the Ark . After all coming we have gone to the mosque Kalon . 

  

The Kalan Mosque (Masjid-i Kalan) was completed in 1515 in the Khanate of Bukhara emulating the model of the mosque built in the time of Arslan Khan with the addition of a large blue dome atop the mihrab. The architectural style of the mosque also draws inspiration and clear analogs to the Bibi Khanum Mosque in Samarkand. The mosque itself is 130 x 81 meters and the impressive 30 meter height of the blue dome makes the structure particularly imposing. Four iwans lie on the axes of the courtyard with an even larger arched iwan denoting the east-facade of the main structure. As the structure extends inwards from the main building, the shape transitions from a square base into an octagon and eventually a cylindrical structure as one extends further into the area of the mihrab standing opposite of the east-facade. The interior of the structure consists of a hypostyle layout which meets the internal courtyard through two hundred and eighty eight domes lining the inner courtyard. The Kalan Mosque is an entirely inwards facing build with its lack of exterior windows juxtaposed against the open courtyard in the center of the structure.

    Several kinds of decorative designs line the massive exterior of the Kalan Mosque. Upon reconstruction in 1515, the exterior walls were decorated with majolica and other ornamental tiles. The mihrab, iwans, and the walls of the mosque are all decorated primarily with traditional artwork correspondent to the late Timurid period including blue and white tile mosaics, vegetal motifs, and patterned glazed brick lining the building.

When it was built by the Karakhanid ruler Arslan Khan in 1127, the Kalon Minaret was probably the tallest building in Central Asia – kalon means ‘great’ in Tajik. It’s an incredible piece of work, 47m tall with 10m-deep foundations (including reeds stacked underneath in an early form of earthquake-proofing), and has stood for almost nine centuries. Chinggis (Genghis) Khan was so dumbfounded by it that he ordered it spared while his troops ransacked the rest of the city.

The minaret is an architectural masterpiece. Its 14 ornamental bands, all different, include the first use of the glazed blue tiles that were to saturate Central Asia under the Timurids. Up and down the southern and eastern sides are faintly lighter patches, marking the restoration of damage caused by Soviet general Frunze’s artillery in 1920. Its 105 inner stairs, accessible from the Kalon Mosque, have been closed off to tourists for several years but may reopen.

    When we were watching the mosque, we met a man . That man related some facts about this mosque such as when  and whose period built , how break made of it or its length. 

So our today's practice finished and was full of most useful information . Good bye till tomorrow 👋🏻☺️