BUKHARA: THE PRINCESS OF CITIES - Tourism in Central Asia: Cultural Potential and Challenges - page 82

Therefore, there is an exceptionally rich architectural heritage (Esin, 1978).
Rabati Malik, which was built by Karakhanid Khan Shams-al-Mulk Nasr
as a caravanserai on the route between Bukhara and Samarkand (Fig. 18),
is the most important monument of this heritage. This monument dating
as 1078-1079 resembles a fortress by its 54/56-meter-high walls. Build-
ing a very wide entrance portal, erecting towers on each corner of a square
floor, and covering the square floor with a central large dome surrounded
by smaller domes became a well-established architectural tradition. This
tradition continued in later Timurid, Seljuk, and Ottoman structures, Mi-
mar Sinan being the most prominent architect applying this style of archi-
tecture. Rabati Malik Caravanserai and the other architectural structures
of Karakhanids are especially significant in being original models for later
Turkic-Islamic and Islamic constructions (Aslanapa, 2007).

FIGURE 18 Ribat-ul Malik Caravanserai (eleventh century) (www.bura.org.tr).

In 1220, during the Mongolian invasion, Bukhara was destroyed and
many scholars died under the wrath of Genghis Khan. Rashid ad-Din
recorded that about 30,000 people were killed, and the whole city was
burned down except Kalya Mosque and some palaces (Özdemir, 2002).
After the invasion of the Mongols, Bukhara was revived during the
reign of the Timurid Dynasty (1370-1405). The founder of the Timurid
Dynasty, Tamerlane, who held Samarkand so dearly, visited the most re-
spected scholars of Islam in Bukhara.

THE TOMB OF HAZRAT NAQSHBAND (FIFTEENTH
CENTURY)

Baha-ud-Din Naqshband Bukhari (1318-1389) was the great master of
one of the 12 spiritual orders of Islam, the Naqshbandi order, which was