Namazgokh Mosque and Islamic Institute, Tashkent

The Tashkent Islamic Institute, named after Imam Al Bukhari, is an educational institution, the only one of its kind in the former USSR, dedicated to Islamic studies. Its curriculum is focused on Islamic theology and Arabic language. Almost all muftis on the post-Soviet territory have graduated from here.

The institute is located within the quarters of the Namazgokh Mosque, an architectural monument which forms part of the Hazrati Imam complex.

The mosque itself was built from 1845-1865, during the reign of the Kokand Khan Mirza Ahmed Kushbegi (aka Khudoyar), and served primarily as a venue for Friday and holiday prayers.

After the Russian revolution of 1917, the building was seriously damaged and plundered, but in the 1970s was restored to its former beauty and placed under the administration of the Board of Muslims of Central Asia and Kazakhstan. In 1971, the Islamic Institute was opened on the site.

The rectangular, elongated building incorporates a number of domed galleries (12 domes in total) with a wooden aivan (covered veranda). The walls of the mosque are made of hard-burnt tiled bricks. The interiors are not decorated. The only detail is the mihrab niche in the main hall, a small flat one with muqarnas (a form of ornamented vaulting in Islamic architecture) and panjara carving on top of it.