Juma Mosque

From the street the Juma Mosque is almost invisible: a plain brick wall with a modest doorway beside a tall minaret. Inside is one of the most memorable spaces in Uzbekistan. There is no courtyard, no dome and no tiled portal, only a single flat-roofed hall of roughly 55 by 46 metres, its ceiling carried on a grid of wooden columns. Light falls through two openings in the roof, and the rest of the room stays in soft shadow.

The columns

Sources count between 212 and 218 columns; 213 is the figure most often given. They are carved from elm, and no two are quite alike. A small number, with slender shafts and fine relief, are believed to be far older than the present building, with dates as early as the tenth or eleventh century proposed for some; others carry inscriptions or styles of the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries, and the rest are later. Tradition says some were brought from Kyat, the old capital of Khorezm, and from other ruined buildings. Many stand on stone bases, and some are said to rest on pads of oil-soaked wool or felt, an old way of protecting the wood from damp and insects.

History

A congregational mosque is thought to have stood on this site since the tenth century. The present building was put up in 1788–1789 under Abdurahman Mehtar, a senior official of the khanate, reusing the old columns. It served as the Friday mosque of Ichan-Kala, where the whole male population of the town gathered for prayer.

The minaret

The minaret beside the mosque dates from the same rebuilding. Published heights vary from about 33 to 42 metres; whichever is correct, it is the second-tallest in Khiva after Islam Khodja. When open, its narrow internal stair leads to a lantern with a view over the roofs; ask at the door.

Experiencing it

Come in the morning, when sunlight from the roof openings falls in shafts across the columns and the hall is quiet. Walk slowly and look at the bases and capitals. Photographs rarely capture the depth of the space, so give yourself a few minutes simply to stand in it.