Turki Jandi.

                  Turki Jandi Mausoleum 

December 16,2022. 

Turki Jandi Mausoleum (unknown age, likely rebuilt mid-16th century).

Today was our fifth trip around Bukhara 🛫🛫🛫. We went to the Turki Jandi Mausoleum in Bukhara. Today's duties were Sevara and Rayhon. They explained us about this ancient place. Tell the truth, we learned many facts and legends about there🤗🤗☺️☺️❤️.

This unrestored mausoleum lies just south of the city's main tourist zone, on the east side of Nomozgokh Street which leads eventually to the Namazgah Mosque. The exact age of the structure is uncertain, but Badr and Tupev note that unpublished excavation reports from 1971-72 suggest the current edifice was constructed in the mid-16th century, with evidence of three other building periods, two earlier and one later. From an architectural perspective the building's prominent dome set upon a tall drum is indicative of Timurid-era architecture and recalls the Mir-i-Arab Madrassa (likely a contemporary structure) and the far earlier Gur-e-Amir Mausoleum in Samarkand (c. 1403-04). The interior of the mausoleum is unfortunately off-limits to visitors due to its poor structural condition—the main dome is cracked and may be in danger of collapse. Originally it would have been clad in turquoise tiles, but none of these survive.

As with the dome, the ruin is devoid of decoration apart from the monumental pishtaq (main entrance), where some tilework remains. It comprises a blue-and-white border of stylized flowers, or vines, inset with a series of square Kufic inscriptions. The quality of the decoration is subpar compared with many of the city's other mausolea, but is important from a historical perspective as it remains in an unrestored state.

The area around the mausoleum is one of the city's largest and oldest burial grounds, and close to the site of a former market known as the "green bazaar".

The life and career of Turki Jandi himself is something of a mystery—this author has not been able to find any reliable biographical information. The surname "Jandi" may be a reference to a place of birth, perhaps the medieval town of Jand (a.k.a. Jend), which was a winter capital of the Seljuqs along the Syr Darya (Jaxartes) river, prior to its destruction at the hands of the Mongols.

Bird lovers may be interested to hear that the monument is crowned with a gigantic stork's nest, one of the few (and perhaps the only one) left in the city. Storks used to be common in Bukhara before land use changes and chemical fertilizers introduced in the Soviet era decimated their numbers from the mid-20th century onward.