Hazrat Khizr Mosque

The story of Hazrat Khizr Mosque

Hazrat Khizr Mosque is a historical mosque in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, set opposite the Shah-i-Zinda complex on a hill and linked with the name of the Islamic prophet Khizr. It is built on the site of an older mosque, and the inscription on the mihrab dates the present building to 1855.

The mosque’s history reaches back much further than the standing structure. The first mention dates to the early 8th century, when the Arabs conquered Sogd. One tradition places a mosque here in 712, after Qutayba ibn Muslim’s troops took Samarkand, on the site of a Zoroastrian temple at the southern gate of Afrasiab. That earlier mosque was destroyed in the Mongol invasion of Central Asia in 1220.

The present mosque was built in 1854 on the ancient foundation, then received decoration and reconstruction work in 1884. In 1899, the veranda was rebuilt and a portal was added, and the reconstruction was completed in 1919. The building was restored again in the 1990s. In 2018, the mausoleum of the First President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov was opened in the territory of the mosque.

Its architecture combines several connected parts: a khanqah, two side rooms, auxiliary rooms, a warehouse, and a minaret. Later additions include the veranda and portal. The main entrance is through a carved wooden door that leads to a small room. The arched, domed portal has two corner towers with ribbed domes and muqarnas ornament. The veranda has five wooden columns, a carved ceiling, colorful patterns, and plaster carving. Inside, the khanqah is covered by a high dome with eight ribs and a lantern, while the exterior of the dome is tiled.

Hazrat Khizr Mosque is recognized as an object of tangible cultural heritage of Uzbekistan, and the specific details of its rebuilt veranda, portal, and minaret are what make it especially memorable.