THE LIAB-I-KHAOUZ ENSEMBLE

Surrounded by tchaïkhana and mulberry pluricentenaires, the Liab-i-Khaouz is a place of life and conviviality in the heart of the old town, the ideal starting point for excursions in Bukhara. Behind the foliage of mulberry trees is the sumptuous facades of madrasas and the khanaka Nadir Divanbeg. The pool provides freshness even during hot summer hours. At the time of its greatness, Bukhara had around such basins, of which Liab-i-Khaouz is one of the few survivors. Caught by the tourist business, it is now flanked by bars on three sides and camel statues on the fourth. Traditional tapchan were mostly replaced by tables and chairs in the west. The aksakal, or the old ones, who gathered there in dozens, were gradually turned back to the right of the basin to accommodate the tourists, now much more. That has not changed their habits: Take the time and play the domino for hours, smiling in the passage of groups of all nationalities. They know that the basin was born of a first expulsion: a legend tells us how, at the location of the basin, was once the home of a Jewish woman. In no way did he want to move, was the plans of the vizier who decided to dig a canal under his house. The vizier won the game, because the house eroded by the humidity eventually collapsed. This little banale history of expulsion marked the city's inhabitants, who called the Khaouz Bazur Basin: the stress pool. In addition to being one of the few basins to have crossed the centuries, it is also one of the largest in the city: it is 45 m long and 36 m wide. Three buildings border the basin. In the north, a little in retreat, La Koukeldash is the oldest, it dates from the middle of the 1620 th century, while the madrasas and the khanaka nadir, which are facing east and west of the basin, were built in, along with the water plan.

The Madrasas Koukeldash, built in 1568 by Pte Koukeldash, is the grande of the city. it measures 80 m on 60 m and consists of 160 cells on two levels. For some time, she became a museum dedicated to the writer Saddridin Aïni.

On the right of Madrasas Koukeldash, there are other mosques and madrasahs. In the east of the basin, the Nadir-Divanbeg madrasas is distinguished by the two immense sémourgues or simorgh that adorn its portal. These fantastic birds with a blue and green plumage, which keep a biche in their greenhouses, seem to be flying to a sun god, reminiscent of the facade of Madrasas Dor in Samarkand. The upper porch is characteristic of the caravanserais, and was apparently not intended to open onto a madrasas. But it is said that the khan on himself during the inauguration and, admiring the caravanserai, félicita Nadir-Divan-Begi for his religious zeal to build so beautiful madrasahs. It was unthinkable to contradict the episode, and although there was no study room or mosque, the caravanserai became a madrasas. In fact, this transformation was undoubtedly caused by the decline in the commercial activity of Bukhara in the th century. Today cells are transformed into souvenir shops and craftsmen's workshops. Iskandar Hakimov and Erkin Juraev design puppets in very expressive national costumes. In summer, concerts are also organized. Finally, in the west, the nadir Nadir Divanbeg welcomed the pilgrims. They stayed in the cells around the central mosque, now transformed into art gallery and souvenir shop.

Between the basin and the Nadir-Divanbeg Madrasas was erected, on the occasion of its th anniversary, the statue of Khodja Nasruddin, a half-hearted character, a wise half, perched on his donkey and holding a small piece of bronze between her fingers.