Sitorai Mokhi-Khosa

Sitorai Mokhi-Khosa, the palace of the moon and stars, was built outside Bukhara for the emirs in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and its interest is the collision of styles: Russian architects worked alongside Bukharan craftsmen, so European rooms with parquet and mirrors open into halls of white ganch plasterwork cut into lattice and floral panels. A garden with peacocks and a separate harem building stand behind.

What you actually see

• The white hall - the room of carved ganch plasterwork in lattice and floral panels.
• The European rooms - parquet, mirrors and Russian furnishing in the same building.
• The peacock garden - the grounds behind the main palace.
• The harem building - the separate pavilion beside the pool.

When to go

April to June and September to October are the comfortable months. Summer heat is severe. The palace keeps daytime hours and closes some days.

Honest expectations

Some rooms are closed and used for craft sales. The site is a taxi ride from the old city. Interpretation is limited and mostly in Russian and Uzbek.

Nearby

Bukhara is south, and the Bahauddin Naqshband complex is east.