Chor-Bakr Necropolis

Chor-Bakr grew up around the grave of Abu Bakr Sa'd, a descendant of the Prophet, and the Juybari sheikhs who dominated Bukhara in the sixteenth century built a mosque, a khanaka and a madrasa there along with courts and walled family enclosures for their own burials, producing what reads as a small city of the dead. UNESCO inscribed it in 2023 within the Zarafshan-Karakum Corridor. Storks nest on the minaret through the summer.

What you actually see

• The walled enclosures - family burial courts laid out as streets and lanes.
• The sixteenth-century buildings - mosque, khanaka and madrasa built by the Juybari sheikhs.
• The storks - the birds nesting on the minaret through the summer.
• The UNESCO listing - inscription within the Zarafshan-Karakum Corridor.

When to go

April to June and September to October are the comfortable months. Storks are present from spring to late summer. Summer heat is severe.

Honest expectations

Restoration has been heavy and some of what stands is modern rebuilding. There is little shade in the courts. Interpretation on site is minimal.

Nearby

Bukhara is east, and the Bahauddin Naqshband complex is beyond it.