Bukhara

Bukhara ( buu-KHAR-ə) is the seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan by population, with 305,500 residents as of 2026. It is the capital of Bukhara Region. Since ancient times, Bukhara was one of the most prosperous cities in Transoxiana alongside neighbouring Samarkand owing to its location on Silk Road. Today its historic core is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Dating to pre-Islamic antiquity, Bukhara became a major centre of Islamic sciences and scholarship during the Islamic Golden Age. It was the birthplace of the scholar Imam Bukhari. Bukhara was a major city in the Samanid Empire, and later, in the Karakhanid Khanate; both empires have left monuments such as Samanid Mausoleum and Kalan Minaret in the city. Bukhara was devastated during the Mongol invasion under Genghis Khan in the 13th century but recovered under the Timurid Empire in the next century. It became capital of the Uzbek Khanate of Bukhara in the 16th century. The Uzbek state added a number of monuments, mosques and madrasas, such as the Po-i-Kalyan complex to the landscape of the city. The Emirate of Bukhara was abolished after the Russian Revolution in 1920, and the Bukhara People’s Soviet Republic was created, later transformed into Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic in 1924. Bukhara has about 140 architectural monuments, including the massive fortifications of Ark of Bukhara. UNESCO has listed the historic center of Bukhara (which contains numerous mosques and madrasas) as a World Heritage Site.