Hovuz (Xoja Zayniddin majmuasi)

This stone-lined water basin sits northeast of the Khoja Zayniddin mosque-khanaka in Bukhara's old inner city, close to the Poi-Kalyan square. Measuring roughly 37 by 26.5 meters and shaped as a beveled square, the pool was once reached by seven limestone steps that let residents of the surrounding neighborhood draw water for daily use. It was fed by two separate sources: the adjacent Rud-i Shahr canal, which also served other monuments nearby, and a private covered channel believed to have connected directly to Bukhara's Ark citadel. The pool is physically and functionally tied to the 16th-century Khoja Zayniddin complex beside it, a mosque-khanaka built for Sufi gatherings with choral recitation, and together they illustrate how religious architecture in old Bukhara was deliberately integrated with the practical water infrastructure of the surrounding mahalla.