Chor Minor, Bukhara

Chor Minor was built in 1807 by Khalif Niyaz-kul, a rich merchant said to be of Turkmen origin, as the entrance to a madrasah he founded. The madrasah itself, a modest courtyard with student cells, has almost entirely disappeared; only fragments of its foundations and a pool remain. What survives is the gatehouse, which also contained a small mosque and a library.

Despite the name, the four towers are not true minarets. They were not used to call the faithful to prayer: three are decorative and contain small rooms used for storage, and the fourth holds a staircase leading to the upper floor. They were designed to impress, and two centuries later they still do.

The building is a square block with a central dome, and a slender tower at each corner. Each tower is topped by a small turquoise-tiled dome, and each is decorated differently, with patterns in white, blue and turquoise tiles. Some motifs have been interpreted as Christian crosses and fishes, Buddhist prayer wheels or Islamic forms.

A popular explanation, never proven, is that the four different towers represent the four religions known to the merchant on his travels, or the four daughters of the builder, each tower reflecting the character of one girl. Another theory links the four towers to the four directions, or to the four great Muslim cities. The stories add to the building’s charm, but its builder left no explanation.

The arrangement has also been compared to Indian buildings, such as the Charminar in Hyderabad, which is much larger. Khalif Niyaz-kul, as a merchant trading with India, may have known Indian architecture.

The building is small, so the main attraction is the exterior. Walk around it to see the different decoration on each tower. Inside, the ground floor room may hold a souvenir shop. For a small fee you can usually climb to the roof, from where you can look closely at the domes of the four towers and over the flat roofs of the surrounding neighbourhood. In front of the building lies a small pool, the remains of the madrasah’s water supply.

Part of Chor Minor’s charm is its setting. It stands among the quiet lanes of a residential mahalla, away from the busy tourist routes. Walking there from Lyabi-Hauz, you pass high mud-brick walls, carved doors, children playing and neighbours talking. Ask for directions if needed: everyone knows the way. Close by, you can explore the lanes of the old Jewish quarter to the south.

Chor Minor was built at a time when Bukhara, under the Manghit emirs, was an inward-looking state that few Europeans visited. Large state buildings were rarer than in the 16th century, but wealthy merchants and officials still founded small madrasahs, mosques and pools in their own neighbourhoods. Chor Minor is a good example of this private patronage: modest in size, but full of personality. Its playful design, so unlike the monumental portals of the Shaybanid era, shows that Bukharan builders still had the confidence to invent new forms.

Location: in the lanes north-east of Lyabi-Hauz, about 10 minutes’ walk.

Tickets: viewing from outside is free; a small fee is charged to climb to the roof.

Time needed: 15–30 minutes.

Best light: morning and late afternoon. The building is surrounded by houses and trees, so the front is sometimes in shade; the turquoise domes stand out best against a clear blue sky.

Tips: go early, before tour groups, for quiet photographs. Combine with Lyabi-Hauz, the Nadir Divan-Begi madrasah and the Jewish quarter in one walk.