BUKHARA: THE PRINCESS OF CITIES - Tourism in Central Asia: Cultural Potential and Challenges - page 81

MAGOK-I ATTARI MOSQUE

Hsuang-Tang, a Chinese Buddhist monk and a traveler, recorded during
his travel from China to the west in 629 that there were various temples in
Bukhara for Nestorians, Buddhists, Manichaeists ve Zoroastrianists. One
of these temples, Mug temple in central Bukhara, was an important center
(Blunt, 1973). This temple was converted to a mosque in the twelfth cen-
tury by Karakhanids. The mosque, Magok-I Attari (Fig. 17), was named
after the former temple and the bazaar of Bukhara, around which there
were several attars (herb sellers). The portal of the mosque, which is or-
namented with geometrical and plant figured stone carvings, is one of the
masterpieces of Bukhara (Aslanapa, 2007). Although this monument, bur-
ied in the heart of Princess Bukhara, changed its form several times, it
always had the same meaning: a meaning all the religions are craving for,
which is eternal love.

FIGURE 17 Magok-I Attari Mosque (thirteenth century) (www.bura.org.tr).

RABATI MALIK CARAVANSERAI (1078-1079)

Karakhanids built monumental mosques and minarets, hospitals, ma-
drasahs, mausoleums, khans along trade routes, and külliyes called “ribat”
or “munyalık” as an act of charity by means of Islamic foundations. Kara-
khanids constructed Islamic monuments by using the architectural tech-
niques developed in Buddhist temples in eastern Turkestan for centuries.