MADRASAS OULOUGH BEGH AND ABDUL AZIZ KHAN

East of the jewelers' bazaar. "Kosh madrasa" means "two madrasas". This term refers to all buildings facing each other or belonging to the same complex. Thus, southwest of the Bolo Khaouz Mosque, the two madrasas Modar-i-Khan and Abdullah Khan are also known as "kosh madrasas". The Ulugh Begh Madrasa dates from 1417, it is the oldest of the two. It was built by Ulugh Begh, the astronomical prince of Samarkand, Tamerlan's successor. The inscription on the front door recalls the wisdom and open-mindedness of its builder: "To aspire to knowledge is the duty of every Muslim. "Open-mindedness that few of his contemporaries and successors shared, since the building, like all madrasas, remained closed to women. This was the first of three madrasas built by Ulugh Begh, the other two being in Samarkand and Gidjuvan, 45 km from Bukhara in the direction of Samarkand. The Madrasa of Bukhara is smaller in size than its sister Madrasa of the Registan of Samarkand, but its harmonious proportions and the skilful sobriety of its decoration make it a fine example of Bukhara's medieval architecture and a precious legacy of the Timurid architecture in Bukhara, which was much neglected in this period compared to Samarkand. After independence, students were able to return to study in the madrasah cells, but the government finally preferred to restore it and open it to tourism.

The city's Restoration Museum is housed in the old mosque on the right, and souvenir and craft shops have invaded the cells. A spiral staircase leads to the vaulted roof above the entrance. Much less sober than its neighbour, the madrasa of Abdul Aziz Khan was built two hundred years later, in 1654, when Bukhara had become the capital of the khanate. The architecture and decoration of the imposing madrasa built under the Chaybanids were carried out by the best master craftsmen of the time.

The mosaic of the pishtak, or entrance portal, as well as that of the portals leading to the inner courtyard, is a bright yellow tangle of vegetation with simorgh birds and even a dragon. These decorations, like those on the façade of the Nadir-Divanbeg Madrasa, are a departure from the Islamic rule forbidding figurative art. But the decorator of the madrasah, Abdul Aziz Khan, seems to have ventured to the limits of tolerance: from the darskhana, looking at the back of the mosque when the lights are off, and letting the eyes get used to the darkness, one can see the faded silhouette of a man in a turban, which disappears as one walks towards the entrance and the eyes get used to the light again. Many different techniques were used to decorate the madrasa: relief majolica, painted gantch casts, engraved marble, chiselled mosaic... The decoration of the interior domes of the winter and summer mosques is particularly remarkable. The darskhana to the right of the entrance, transformed into an antique shop, is worth seeing for two reasons: its unrestored decoration is sublime and there are beautiful carpets and suzani. The madrasa also has fireplaces, a great innovation for the time. The decoration of the façade and part of the courtyard has remained unfinished. Indeed, Abdul Aziz Khan was dethroned and his successor put an end to the work.