In the eastern part of the city of Bukhara, not far from the architectural ensemble of Lyabi Khauz is a small building of the Chor-Minor Madrasah, which means "four minarets". This madrasah is also called the madrasah of Khalifa Niyazkul. Niyazkul was a wealthy Turkmen caliph who, once visiting India and seeing the Taj Mahal, wanted to build something like this in Bukhara. Thus, at the intersection of the Great Silk Road, the Chor-Minor Madrassah was built. As a result, the madrassah architecture is very different from other similar structures in the East. The date of construction of the madrasah dates back to about 1807.
The madrassah includes a courtyard, built on one side by one-story hujras, a columned aivan, a summer mosque, a pool lined with stone blocks. At four corners of the mosque building there are four towers, crowned by blue domes, resembling minarets in shape, due to which the whole complex was called Chor-Minor. The decor of each minaret is individual. If you look closely, the images on the minarets reflect the religious and philosophical comprehension of the four world religions. Some elements can be treated with confidence as a Christian cross, a crescent moon and a Buddhist wheel.
On the second floor and in the towers there were auxiliary rooms and, as it is believed, there was once an extensive library
Useful links:
Other sights of Bukhara
Bukhara
Tours round Bukhara