Bolo-Hauz Mosque

Bolo-Hauz means "above the pool", and the mosque is best known as a reflection. Built in 1712 on Registan square, directly across from the Ark, it served as the Friday mosque of the emirs, who crossed from the fortress to pray here in state.

The porch of twenty columns

What gives the building its lightness was added late, in 1917, only a few years before the emirate fell: a deep summer iwan, about twelve metres high, carried on twenty tall columns of carved wood. Each column ends in a capital of painted stalactite carving, and the ceiling above is coffered and painted in reds, greens and gold. Reflected in the water, the twenty columns appear to double, and the mosque is sometimes compared with the Forty Columns palace of Isfahan for the same reason.

Behind the porch is the winter prayer hall, a more enclosed room with four columns, painted walls and carpets. Beside the pool stands a short minaret of 1916–1917, banded with brick and blue glazed tile.

A working mosque

Bolo-Hauz is again in use for daily and Friday prayer. Visitors are welcome outside prayer times; remove shoes before entering the prayer hall, and cover shoulders and knees. Women are usually asked to cover their hair inside.

How to experience it

Come in the late afternoon, when the sun falls on the porch and the pool lies still; or in the morning, when the light catches the painted ceiling. Pair it with the Ark across the road, then continue to the Samanid Mausoleum ten minutes to the west.