Kokand Sahib Mian Hazrat Medressa and Museum

Visit Guide to Kokand Sahib Mian Hazrat Medressa and Museum

Miyon Hazrat Madrasah, or Miyon Akhat, was built at the end of the 18th century in the southern part of the city. Miyon Akhat was from Peshawar (Pakistan), from where, as his great-grandson Abdurahman told us, having met the merchant Abdusamadbai, he and his family moved to Kokand. Soon Akhat, having become famous for his knowledge of theology and earning authority among the local population, became an advisor under the khan. Having received an inheritance from Pakistan, he built a madrasah at his own expense, which has survived to this day.

Getting There

Take buses 14, 33, or 66. From Tashkent’s South Station, hop the daily train to Kokand (part of the Tashkent-Andijan route). Taxis like Premier, Arava, and Real shuttle visitors around the city.

What to Expect

Miyon Hazrat Madrasah is a compound three-yard complex: two courtyards are located along the east-west axis, the third adjoins them from the south. The main entrance to the madrasah – on the western side of the southern courtyard – is marked with a portal-domed darvozakhona with wooden gates decorated with carved ornaments by the local craftsman Iskander Khoja. Residential buildings are tightly adjacent to the madrasah from all sides.

History

Along the southern courtyard perimeter (32 X 26 m), residential chambers were built, only in the southern part was a multi-column square mosque in plan with a flat beamed ceiling. Here in the southeast corner, a small minaret has been preserved.

The rest of the courtyards – the eastern (35X20 m) and western (23X11 m) – also surround the khujras. In the eastern part of the madrasah, an aivan was erected (now lost), and in the western part, a study room was built. Here you can observe various structural types of floors: vaults, domes and flat beams.

The facades of the madrasah with exposed baked brickwork are decorated with a rhythmic row of lancet shallow niches. The interiors are plastered with ganch.