Uzbekistan: Bukhara – Chor Minor Mosque
Chor Minor Mosque and Madrassah is by far the most photogenic. “Chor Minor” means four minarets, in reference to the building’s four towers. The mosque was built in 1807 by a wealthy Bukhara merchant as a quite unique 4-minareted structure (although they are not real but rather faux minarets). While the architecture is mostly traditional central Asian Timurid-style, there are still ongoing discussions happening to this day whether the Chor Minor was built to represent a mixture of different religions – Islamic mosque with minarets, a crucifix-shaped structure of Christianity, a Buddhist praying-wheel, or Zoroastrian fire temple – all in one. Whatever the secret is, it’s an awesome building to explore and you can climb to the roof and watch the sunset, and even without any other tourists these days!
