30 AUGUST 2019 Y.
At the entrance to Vabkent (the town, located in the suburbs of Bukhara) we can see how the horizon line is cut through tall & elegant minaret ("Place of kindling" in Arabic meaning), embodied in typical Asian style, with a round base. It wears the proud title of "Vabkent cypress» because of its thin form. Thanks to them minaret seem much above its real level.
The "Younger brother" of the Kalyan minaret was built in 1196, as reported by the Kufic inscriptions (old form of Arabic writing), which engirded the base with a diameter of 6m and 2m from bottom to top. The name of the alleged customer of the Vobkent complex, the Sadr Burhan al-din Abdul Aziz II is also inscribed in the tier. Sadr is the title of one of the highest state posts in Bukhara Emirate.
It is believed that the similarity with great Kalyan minaret, built-in 1127, is due not only to the architectural traditions and prevailing trends of that time. It is assumed that its architect was a disciple of Bako (a master), who built the Kalyan. A huge effort was spent on the construction – it was necessary to take into account all-natural factors that might subsequently lead the building to destruction, such as seismicity, soil density, direction and strength of winds.
The height is 39 m – it is 7 m below the Bukhara minaret and finish of his fit-up more ascetic, made bricks, staggered and in the form 8 belts decorated with blue majolica & carved glazed terracotta (baked clay) with geometric patterns. The pillar is decorated with a magnificent lantern rotunda, the path to which goes through many steep steps and multi-tiered stalactite cornice — Sharaf.
City Friday mosque, built at the same time with the minaret, has been destroyed. But the minaret has survived, marking of architectural grandeur once existed in the Bukhara Emirate.