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Madrassah Kukeldash is a part of the architectural ensemble of Chorsu. With Madrassah Kukeldash, one can say, the old city begins. Built in the Middle Ages, the madrassah stands in place of the old gate, which was part of the fortress wall surrounding the city. Its one of the largest of the 23 madrasahs of old Tashkent.
Madrassah Kukeldash was built in the 16th century by the minister of Tashkent Shaybanid sultans Barak Khan and Dervish Khan, nicknamed "Kukeldash". Kukeldash himself was a courtier, as well as a great scholar and poet at the court of Abdullakhan.
The architecture of the building is made in the best traditions of eastern architecture, the facade with a high arched entrance is decorated with colored mosaics and majolica. The main portal, with a height of 19.7 m, leads to the inner courtyard, bounded by two-storey dormitories in the form of cells - hujra. Each cell consists of a room and an entrance niche - aivan. Two or three students occupied one room. From the towers (guldast) in the corners of the main portal are muezzins, or azanchi, who call on believers to pray (prayer).
For many centuries the Kukeldash Madrassa was used as a fortress, a hotel. In the courtyard of the madrasah, elections of deputies to the city duma were held, and in due time one of the outstanding Uzbek poets ZakirjanFurkat lived here. For many years the madrasah was the central place for the residents of Tashkent. Like today, it gathered around itself masters, craftsmen and traders, and over time, the square at the madrassah became the largest cluster of bazaars, and the hearth of the entire urban life of the old Tashkent.
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