9/27: Tashkent's Chorsu Bazaar, Kukeldash Medressa, Khast Imam & More!

By now, you know we’re suckers for bazaars so we made our way via the metro to Tashkent’s most famous market, Chorsu Bazaar! 

It was a perfect opportunity to watch the locals where they came to shop, sell their wares and to experience their market. 

The main building was topped by a giant green dome.

The market was organized by the type of item being sold. There were separate sections for fruit, vegetables, meats and nuts. 

There were aisles after aisles of sweets we’d never seen before, some prettily wrapped up like party favors. They looked pretty as a picture so, of course, I had to take some!

This looked like rock candy but I wasn't sure. 

One of the highlights of the Chorsu Bazaar was the extensive bread section. Never before had we seen such a huge section devoted exclusively to bread in any market. 

Bread obviously straight from the oven - we just needed to find its source!

These bread baskets were unlike any we'd seen before or since. They had a hard crust and looked like pie crusts. 

We followed our noses and saw the bread bakers rolling out the dough, stamping each piece with specific designs and then placing the rounds in the tandoor oven. 

One baker saw me taking photos and kindly gestured me over to watch the process from much closer which I really appreciated!

We bought one he just pulled from the oven which smelled heavenly but we had to wait a couple of minutes until it cooled down a smidge as it was piping hot. 

One thing that impressed us a lot was how neat and clean everything was. We visited mid-morning after the market had been in full swing for about five hours and the floors were so clean compared to every other market we’d seen, you could almost eat off them!

There were literally hundreds of individual stands selling pretty much the same cuts of meat where it was hacked or sawed into more manageable sizes on small tables behind them.

One section was devoted to pickles and sinus-clearing salads, again something new for us. 

There were just massive amounts of onions!

We had heard birds for quite a while but it was only when we looked high above us that we saw bird cages!

Uzbekistan is known for its beautiful pottery and there was a marvelous selection of it in several places throughout the bazaar.

Just around the corner from the market was the grand Kulkedash Madrassa, an Arabic word for any type of educational institution, whether secular or religious (of any religion). 

The madrassa has been used for many purposes during its lifetime. In the 18th century, it was converted into a caravanserai or roadside inn for merchants trading in the local bazaars. It was then changed into a fortress. Later still, it became the setting for public executions. Damaged by earthquakes, it lay in ruins until it was restored in the mid-20th century.

The garden inside was a nice place to relax after a visit to the bustling Chorsu Bazaar that surrounded it.

Some of the former classrooms had been converted into tiny shops where artisans sold their crafts. 

But unlike most of the other madrassas we would see in the next ten days, part of Kulkedash still operated as a religious school.

As you probably know by now, shoes must be removed on a wood or tile floor before stepping onto a carpet by a Muslim prayer space or mosque. 

Tashkent's primary Juma or Friday Mosque was part of the religious complex. The mosque was built in the 1990s on the site of a 16th century mosque that had been destroyed by the Soviets. If we had been there the following morning, a Friday, equivalent to the Muslim Sabbath, the front of the mosque would be overflowing with worshippers.

Unlike so many churches we visit, the mosques we've seen over the years are normally so quiet with few people yakking and making unwelcome noise in a place of worship. As there were only about half a dozen men praying quietly inside the Juma Mosque, it was very peaceful. 

I was welcomed even though I was the only woman present. Normally, there are separate sections for women to pray so men are not disturbed by the presence of women as we were told years ago, but I didn't see one at Juma.

From the serene mosque, we walked about a mile north along very noisy streets to the religious heart of the city, Khast Imam complex, home of the Imam Ismil al-Bukhari Islamic Institute, the highest seminary in the USSR and one of only two that operated in Uzbekistan during the Soviet era.

The gargantuan Hazroti Imam Friday Mosque was flanked by two 54 meter tall minarets. As a prayer service was going on, we decided to return later.

But first we stopped to admire the exquisite tile work on the front.

The vast mosque and minarets from the rear:

Behind the mosque was the sprawling Khast Imam Square. The primary attraction in the square was the Mubarak Library Museum which contained the 7th century Osman Koran, said to be the world's oldest. 

The Library Museum:

The enormous deerskin tome was brought to Samarkand by Timur, then taken to Moscow by the Russians in 1868 before being returned to Tashkent by Lenin in 1924 as an act of goodwill toward the region's Muslims. Pictures of the priceless Koran were strictly forbidden but the husband of a woman I chatted with the day before at Independence Square took this image from the doorway to the library after we saw them in the square. He then kindly 'air dropped' the image to Steven's iPad as we chatted on the square even though we'd never heard that term before! You can just just see the opened Koran above the black screen.

The museum also had a collection of several dozen rare 13th century religious texts.

This Koran was written in Farsi, the Persian language, in 1404.

This Koran was written on deer leather in 630!

This Koran was written in Braille. 

In what looked like a former madrassa, small shops with gorgeous souvenirs were set up in each of the old classrooms. It was now a shoppers' paradise!

In a corner of Khast Imam Square was the 16th century mausoleum of Abu Bakr Kaffal Shoshi, an Islamic scholar  and poet.

The front room contained his large tomb and five smaller ones.

Larger tombs of three more sheiks were at the back.

These were Antoinette and Ted: she was from Melbourne, Australia, and he was from London and they live in Zurich, Switzerland. She was the woman I had met while hoping to take a picture of the globe at Independence Square the previous day before being told to scram by the guards. I forewarned her about them in the hope she might be more successful than I getting the photo. We had also run into them a bit earlier at the Kulkedash Madrassa so it was funny to see them again here at Khast Imam! Ted was the one who deserves the credit for the photo of the oldest Koran!

The grand mufti, roughly equivalent to an archbishop, also occupied a new building near the mosque. 

It was hard to grasp the enormous size of the mosque and surrounding buildings that had been built on the orders of President islom Karimov in 2007. It was hard not to feel overwhelmed at the size of the complex as it was just mammoth. I can imagine the square must hold tens of thousands of Muslim faithful. 

To gain entry to the mosque, we walked past one of the beautiful minarets. 

The courtyard to the mosque:

The mosque's interior:

I wondered if  Muslim women prayed behind these screens at the mosque.

From Khast Imam, we grabbed a bus and then the Oybek metro station to go back downtown.

As we walked through Navoi Park looking for a spot to sit and relax for an hour or so, we spotted a couple having their wedding photos taken.

The couple had likely come from here as this was the Wedding Palace. 

One of the most unusual paths ever! It was fun walking on the Snake Bridge but it was very tottery and didn't go anywhere!

All sorts of statues to literary figures were in the park but NO benches. What is it with Tashkent and the lack of benches in its parks?! The park was a big disappointment not only for its lack of benches but because it was so poorly maintained.

In the distance was Oliy Majlis or lower house of Parliament. I read that "It currently functions as a giant rubber stamp in its infrequent sessions." However, I don't know the date when that was written to know if that is still the case. 

First we wanted to see the Alisher Navoi Monument that looked like a spaceship!

Click on the photo to more easily read the saying that was on the dome's interior. 

Navoi was a 15th century poet, linguist, politician and painter!

Navoi's monument faced toward the Istikol Palace, now a concert hall but formerly the People's Friendship Palace. 

It was spectacularly ugly walking toward the Palace and the immense flagpole. 

I almost got beaned by chestnuts when I inadvertently walked under a chestnut tree! Thank goodness Steven wasn't walking under it, as his bald noggin would have hurt for a long time!

Finally, we reached the huge flagpole and the front of the palace we'd seen earlier.

In front of the palace was a monument to the family of Shaahmed Shamahmudov, who sheltered 15 children of different nationalities during WW II. It was only re-installed on May 9th this year, the Day of Memory and Honor. 

Back at Timur Square, the statue of Amir Timur with the Dom Forum looked lovely at sunset.

We had returned to the center of town looking for some place to eat or at least grab a bite as we'd been on the go for a good seven or more hours by then and were hungry and had seen NO place to get food. I finally spotted a take out place where we got some chicken sandwiches but it was a frustrating experience looking for a restaurant in the capital of the country. Since we were close by, we then walked back to the weekend craft fair to look again at a few more items that had caught my eye yesterday!

I wonder how much Coca Cola had to pay to have their ad splashed across the front of the huge Hotel Uzbekistan!

Next post: The excellent Museum of Applied Arts.

Posted on October 14th, 2018, from Turkistan, Kazakhstan.