Chor-Bakr Necropolis

About six kilometres west of Bukhara, in the village of Sumitan, lies the family necropolis of the Juybari sheikhs. The site grew around the grave of Abu Bakr Said, who died in 970 and was one of four revered figures named Abu Bakr; hence Chor-Bakr, "the four Bakrs". From the 16th century his descendants, the Juybari khojas, were the most influential Naqshbandi family in Bukhara, spiritual advisers and financiers to the khans.

The ensemble

The main buildings were raised in 1559–1563 under Abdullah Khan II, the Shaybanid ruler whose own fortunes were closely bound to the Juybari family. Facing a central courtyard stand three monumental buildings: a mosque, a khanaka and a madrasah, their tall portals decorated with glazed tile and carved inscriptions. Behind them stretches the necropolis itself: walled family courtyards, called hazira, each with its own gate and its graves laid out under marble headstones carved with script, flowers and geometric patterns. A small minaret was added in the late 19th century.

The overall effect is of a small town of lanes and doorways, built not for the living but for the dead. It feels quite different from the shrines in the city: quieter, more private, and closer to the scale of a family.

How to experience it

Chor-Bakr is still a place of pilgrimage, though far less visited than the Bahauddin Naqshband complex, and in the early morning you may have the lanes to yourself. Dress modestly and walk quietly among the graves. It fits easily into a half day with the Samanid Mausoleum and Chashma-Ayub on the western side of the city, or into a drive along the Seven Pirs route.