Baghbanli Mosque

Baghbanli Mosque — an architectural monument in the city of Khiva, Khorezm. It was built in 1809. The mosque is located at 24 Islom Khoja Street, Ichan Qala neighborhood.

The architectural monument is considered state property under the operational management authority of the “Ichan Qala” State Museum-Reserve.

In 2023 the renovation of the mosque was completed. This project was implemented within the initiative “Silk Road Heritage Routes in Afghanistan, Central Asia and Iran — International Dimension of European Cultural Heritage Year” funded by the European Union and UNESCO.

History and structure

The overall dimensions of the mosque are 26 × 13.3 m. Entry to the courtyard is through a main vaulted portal. On both sides of the portal there are rooms. Both sides of the courtyard are enclosed by walls. Above, there is a front porch and a vaulted prayer hall (6.8 × 6.8 m). Its walls and foundation are made of fired brick, the portal lintel is made of smooth brick laid in pairs, and the windows are framed in stone in a lattice shape. The door is carved with ornament (the name of Master Ro‘zi Muhammad is recorded). The interior walls of the prayer hall are plastered with stone. To the south there is a mihrab, and on the other sides deep and wide niches are carved. The porch arch and columns (dating from the 14th century) are decorated with carved patterns. The mosque has a rectangular shape, with a two‑columned vaulted winter hall. The wooden columns of the building are carved with decorations of artistic value, resembling the ornaments of the Juma Mosque.

Columns are installed on the arches. On the marble stone plaque installed at the mosque entrance, the name of the master Polvonqul who carved the inscriptions and the year the building was constructed are written in poetic lines. In addition, the history of the mosque's construction is also considered to be included there. The inscriptions are written in the Arabic alphabet, in Persian, in the Nastaliq calligraphic style. The condition of the marble plaque is good. On the doors, the name of another woodcarving master — the son of Odina Muhammad, Roʻz Muhammad, is written, who made the carved‑patterned door leading to the shrine of Shaykh Muxtor Vali in the village of Ostona of Yangiariq district. According to legends, the mosque was built in exchange for money donated by two gardener brothers.

Having a large dome, this mosque resembles a monument of the 14th–15th centuries, because its interior decorations, the carved patterns on the two columns in the iwan, and the hadiths written on them are characteristic of that period. The columns may also be remnants of the mosque’s earlier building.

In the manuscript “Halvati soʻhifo” written in 1813 by an unknown author, these inscriptions are recorded: “And in the state of the shining Eltuzar Khan, the lady Zubayda found a building; Pahlavon Quli Bogbonli knocked it down and turned the dome into a heap.” From this it can be concluded that the mosque originally built of raw brick in the “cho‘bkori” method was named Zubaydaxonim. A tomb was built near the western side of the Bogbonli mosque and this tomb should be the grave of Lady Zubayda.