Adjacent to the lower reaches of the Sokh River, at a distance of four hundred and five meters above sea level, Kokand is the second largest and most important city that has grown in the Fergana Valley, with a population of two hundred and sixty thousand people and occupies an area of sixty-five square kilometers. Kokand is a representative of some of the largest and most iconic megacities of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Located in the southwestern part of the Fergana Valley, one hundred kilometers from the city of Fergana, which is an administrative and cultural center, both in the past and today, Kokand has enormous political and economic importance, connecting the two paths of the Fergana Valley. The first path, north-west, runs through the mountains to the city of Tashkent, and the second path, the west, leads through Khuzhand.
In the 17th century, Kokand was proclaimed the capital of the Kokand Khanate, a very powerful at that time, whose aura of power was extended to some southern regions of Kazakhstan, most of the territory of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and even China. During this period, Kokand can already be called a religious, political and cultural center; thirty-five madrasahs and about three hundred mosques were built on the territory of the city.
But, unfortunately, today, due to the many powerful earthquakes and the action of other elements, numerous enemy raids and just time, little has survived. So, in 1876, the history of the existence of the Kokand Khanate, which flourished for about one hundred and seventy years, was cut short.
After the annexation of Kokand to the Russian state, the city begins a new, stormy and rapid stage of development. Buildings of the European type are erected from "Nikolaev" baked bricks, and the buildings looked very organically against the background of the eastern city. Almost instantly, Kokand becomes one of the largest financial, trade and cultural centers in Turkmenistan. The number of banks in Kokand even exceeds the number of financial structures in Tashkent.
Khudoyarkhan's palace. Kokand can rightfully be proud of the Khudoyarkhan or Urda palace complex, created in one thousand eight hundred and seventy-first by an architect named Mir Ubaydullo. Throughout the territory of Central Asia, this is the only surviving palace of the khan. Many talented craftsmen who came from Kanibadam, Namangan, Chust worked on the creation of the palace, and of course, many craftsmen from Kokand took part in the construction.
The palace with buildings with a total area of four hectares was erected on a high three-meter foundation. For the convenience of entering the palace through the eastern central gate, a ramp road was built, which was once guarded by cannons of copper and cast iron. On the portal between the two towers, with the help of skillfully executed colored majolica, there was an inscription in Arabic script: Great Said Muhammad Khudoyar Khan.
The territory of the palace was surrounded by a fence of extraordinary beauty along the entire perimeter; it was made of carved stone. The right flank of the palace contains a minaret, decorated with ceramic tiles, the color of which repeats the Abra Fergana silk. Inside the palace there are seven courtyards and one hundred and nineteen rooms, all rooms are decorated with openwork ganch carving, decorated with ornamental paintings and finished with gilded alabaster cornices.
The most expensive decor was the throne room and the khan's reception room. Nearby you can see the treasury, the armory room and the treasury. For the wives of the khan, and there were four of them, six heirs, luxuriously decorated premises were intended. Here, in the courtyard, the khan's harem was located.
The Emir Madrasah was created in strict accordance with the style for such buildings. The facade of the building is at least twenty one meters wide and thirty meters long, sixteen to eighteen meters the size of the courtyard in the madrasah, with a special refined elegance emanates from the blue color of the domes that crowned the mosque with the classroom. To this day, the mosque receives visitors, both believers and tourists.
Madrasah Narbuta-biy (the name was given in honor of the Kokand Khan Narbut-biy, thanks to whose skillful activities, Kokand received its cultural and economic development) is a higher Muslim educational institution of the eighteenth century and is located on Chor-su square in the city of Kokand.
For two centuries, the Narbut-biy madrasah was considered one of the largest, as contemporaries testify, and already in the nineteenth century there were about forty madrasahs in Kokand. Under Khan Narbut-biy, the madrasah was improved and expanded in one thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine.
Thanks to the work of skilled craftsmen and architects from Bukhara, the features of the architectural solutions of the madrasah differ from the buildings of that time. The name of one of the architects of Bukhara, Muhammad Salikh Usto Kasym, has come down to our days.
The dimensions of the entire madrasah are 52 x 72 meters. There is a mosque on the left near the entrance, on the right is an educational building (darskhana), and an open veranda for teaching was built in the rectangular courtyard.
All the above-described components of the madrasah and other outbuildings form a whole complex. Everything is done in a minimalistic style, all four built-in towers are rounded and each tower has lighting (lantern).
Nowadays, the madrasah is still functioning and represents an institute for religious knowledge, in which, today, eighty applicants-theologians receive knowledge.
Another monument of unique antiquity is Modori Khan complex (women's burial vault), built in 1825 in honor of the beloved mother-in-law Nodirabegim (wife of Umarkhan). Modari Khan is one of the ten tombs that exist around the world. This cultural monument indicates the important position of Eastern women in society.
Jami Mosque is the main Friday mosque of the city. The mosque was created by order of Umarkhan and is a long ayvan with three closed sides and a khanaka located in the very center of the building. Ninety-eight carved wooden decks are holding the aivan. At the base of the main entrance there is a minaret, lined with smooth, simple brickwork and twenty-two meters high. The presence of a six-arch lantern under the dome is the main decoration of the minaret. Every day, a certain number of times (five) a day at the same hours, from the high minaret, residents of the city were notified of the prayer.
Tourists interested in the sights of Central Asia should certainly visit the amazing in its beauty, oriental luxury, the presence of a huge number of attractions and ancient architectural monuments city of Kokand.
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