Lyab-i Hauz

Lab-i Hauz (Uzbek: Labihovuz, Tajik: Лаби Ҳавз, romanized: Labi Havz, Persian: لب حوض, romanized: Lab-e Howz, meaning in Persian "by the pool"), sometimes also known as Lyab-i Khauz, a Russian approximation, is the name of the area surrounding one of the few remaining hauz pools that have survived in the city of Bukhara, Uzbekistan.

Until the Soviet period, there were many such pools, which were the city's principal source of water, but they were notorious for spreading disease and were mostly filled in during the 1920s and 1930s.

The Lab-i Hauz survived because it is the centerpiece of a magnificent architectural ensemble, created during the 16th and 17th centuries, which has not been significantly changed since.

[1] The history of this ensemble is closely connected with the name of Nadir Divan-Beghi, who was an important grandee, vizier, and also an uncle of the Emir of Bukhara Imam Quli Khan.

It is said that when Nadir Divan-Beghi built the khanqah which bears his name, near the site of the building there was a large holding owned by an old Jewish widow.

Nadir Divan-Beghi had decided that this site would be the perfect place for a pool, but the widow turned down his offer to buy the property.

In return for the widow’s holding Nadir Divan-Beghi gave her a plot of land, belonging to him, in a residential area, which later was named the Jewish quarter (Mahalli Kuma).

Due to its location and size (side of the square hall is 11,2 m. - 36,75 ft.), the khanqah was the prominent cultural and religious centre of Bukhara.

The devotion to Islam tradition in the state under the Janid dynasty had paled before the eagerness of the Shaibanid khans in the previous century.

The richly colored finishing and the depiction of sun, tigers and antelopes, tell of a pioneering approach to artistic expression, unique in the Islamic world.

950), named the mosque built on the site of the former temple "maghākī", i.e. "in a pit", because even then half of it was concealed from view by the rising soil level.

Today the Lab-i Hauz is a right-angled pool (46 x 36 meters), which stretches from the east to the west and is buried in the verdure of century-old trees.

So Nadir Divan-Beghi was obliged to rearrange the caravanserai by adding on to the front the loggias, the portal (Aywan) and angular towers.