Fayzulla Khodjaev House, Bukhara

The house was built in the 1890s by Ubaydullah Khodjaev, one of the wealthiest merchants of Bukhara, who traded in karakul (lambskin) and textiles with Russia. His fortune allowed him to build one of the finest houses in the city, using the best Bukharan craftsmen. His son Fayzulla was born in 1896 and grew up here.

Fayzulla studied in Moscow and returned to Bukhara influenced by modern ideas. He joined the Young Bukharans, a reform movement that wanted to modernise the emirate, introduce new schools and limit the power of the emir and the clergy. After the failure of reform attempts, the movement allied with the Bolsheviks, and in 1920 it took part in the overthrow of Emir Alim Khan, when the Red Army stormed the Ark.

At just 24, Fayzulla became head of the government of the new Bukharan People’s Soviet Republic. When the republic was absorbed into the Soviet Union and Uzbekistan was created in 1924, he became chairman of the government of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, a position he held for more than a decade. In 1937, during Stalin’s Great Purge, he was arrested; after a show trial in Moscow he was shot in 1938. He was rehabilitated in the 1960s. His story reflects the hopes and tragedies of a generation of Central Asian reformers.

The house follows the traditional Bukharan plan, divided into an outer courtyard for receiving guests and business (tashqari) and an inner courtyard for the family (ichkari), with service areas. High blank walls face the street; life turns inward to the courtyards with their porches on carved wooden columns.

The highlight is the reception room for guests, a high hall decorated with carved and painted ganch (alabaster) on the walls, with niches (tokcha) for displaying porcelain, mirrors, and a ceiling of painted wooden beams and panels. The quality of the carving and painting shows the wealth of the family and the skill of Bukharan masters at the end of the 19th century. Other rooms display furniture, household objects, costumes, jewellery and photographs of the family.

The house was restored and opened as a museum, partly devoted to the history of Fayzulla Khodjaev and his era. Some rooms recreate the interiors of a wealthy Bukharan home.

The design of the house responds to both climate and custom. Thick walls of mud brick and high rooms keep the interior cool in summer; the courtyards, with trees and sometimes a small pool, give shade and light. In winter, families moved to smaller, warmer rooms. The division into outer and inner courtyards protected the privacy of women, who did not appear before male guests. Guests were received in the most richly decorated room, so the family’s wealth and taste were displayed where visitors would see them.

At times the museum has offered visitors the chance to try on traditional Bukharan robes and headdresses for photographs, and some tour groups arrange small fashion shows or music performances in the courtyard. Ask on arrival whether these are available.

Location: in the lanes of the south-western part of the old city, about 15 minutes’ walk from Poi Kalyan and a few minutes from the Kosh Madrasah.

Tickets: an entrance fee; guided explanations may be available.

Time needed: 45 minutes to an hour.

Tips: the house is not easy to find; ask locally or use a map. Combine it with the Kosh Madrasah and a walk through the quiet residential lanes of this part of the city. For another view of Bukharan domestic architecture, see the merchants’ houses of the Jewish quarter. And for the life of the emir whom Fayzulla helped to overthrow, visit his summer palace, Sitorai Mohi-Hosa.