Holiday in Central Asia (21): still Bukhara in Uzbekistan
As yesterday, it was a slow day (Day 20) in Bukhara instead of an intensive day in Turkmenistan.
We started by visiting the workshop of a world renown artist of miniatures. Davlat Toshev has exhibited in the Louvre and hopes to have an exhibition in London sometime soon. His work ranges in price from $50 to £20,000. Next we strolled around the former Jewish Quarter of the Old City. Since independence, almost all of Bukhara’s Jews have emigrated to Israel or the United States, so the remaining synagogue is rarely open but we were fortunate.
We then drove the short distance to a park on the western side of the city to view the Ismail Samani Mausoleum. This place was discovered in 1934 by the Russian archaeologist Shishkin who found it buried in accumulated sand and earth which had ensured its survival during the Mongol destruction. It was completed in 905, making it over 1,000 years old. Indeed it is arguably the oldest intact structure in Central Asia. It is a 35 foot (10.8 metre) cube made of baked bricks laid out so that the ornamentation is never the same when the light shines on it.
It was time for another bazaar and a large one was walking distance from the mausoleum with an array of colours and odours to enjoy. Next stop was the Chashma Ayub Mausoleum. The name translates as Job’s Well and legend has it that the prophet struck his staff in the ground and found water here. However, there is no evidence that Job ever visited Bukhara and, since he lived in pre-Biblical times and the original construction dates from the the 12th century, this is clearly just a legend. Today the building houses a small museum about water management in Bukhara.
Lunch was in an amazing place called Akbar House The building was 270 years old and started out as the home of a 19th century Jewish merchant. Today it is a protected structure so that the design and contents have to stay the same. After lunch of traditional but local plov, the hostess displayed suzanis to us.
Since we were supposed to be in Turkmenistan today, our extended programme in Bukhara had run out of steam and we were given the afternoon at leisure. I had no appetite for more mosques and mausoleums, so I remained at out hotel where I wrote and read.
Diner was at another splendid location: a trendy restaurant called “Andara” where we had pike perch fish on the rooftop terrace.