THE BOLO KHAUZ MOSQUE AND ITS SURROUNDINGS

Right in front of the Ark, there is a mosque with an open veranda standing in front of the Bolo Khauz.  Khauz means pond or pool and Bolo Khauz means boy’s pond, and this body of water is much older than the mosque that was built in 1712. The Emir used to cross the square from the Ark to make his way here for Friday prayers.  The impressive and ornately decorated summer mosque with a tower was built in 1917, during the era of the last Bukharian Emir.  Lining the veranda stand twenty wooden pillars; it’s thought to be lucky if you see a perfect reflection of all twenty pillars in the water as the number forty is sacred.