Markets & Madrasas: Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan

The Barak-Khan Madrasa

The trip begins in the booming city of Tashkent, the Uzbek capital. You’ll be met at the airport on the flight arriving at 1 AM on April 9 (the wee hours of April 8), then check in to the hotel for a good night’s sleep. Next day, April 9, is our first activity day; get ready to meet the bread bakers at the huge Chorsu Bazaar and ride the subway to see the artistically decorated underground stations. Big sycamores line the wide avenues of Tashkent, and mosaic-decorated apartment blocks alternate with sleek new glass and steel edifices.

In Tashkent’s old city, we’ll admire historical buildings with iconic turquoise-tiled domes, such as the 16^th Barak-Khan Madrasa complex. We’ll also visit the home/studio of a famous embroiderer’s workshop and school, and see her beautiful jackets and other pieces.

We’ll be sure to see the Museum of Applied Arts which showcases some of the best historical examples of the arts of Uzbekistan, in the mansion of the Imperial Russian diplomat Alexander Polovtsev. He commissioned the intricately decorated mansion expressly to display his extensive collections of unique handicrafts and textiles. After the Soviet revolution, the government nationalized his cherished home and opened it to the public as a museum. Polovtsev’s rare examples of vintage folk art such as ceramics, handmade rugs, and wood carvings are on display in the wondrous house with its colorfully decorated ceilings.

Next Stop Bukhara!

Next we’ll visit the ancient city of Bukhara, another UNESCO World Heritage site. The historic center of Bukhara, situated on the Silk Road, is more than two thousand years old. It is one of the best examples of well-preserved Islamic cities of Central Asia of the 10th to 17th centuries, with an urban fabric that has remained largely intact. It was a major medieval center for Islamic theology and culture. Bukhara still contains hundreds of well-preserved mosques, madrassas, bazaars and caravansarais, dating largely from the 9th to the 17th centuries. Several ancient, domed buildings here still function as bazaars, offering carpets, typical suzanis (embroidered panels) and jewelry.

Important monuments that survive from early times include the famous Ismail Samani mausoleum, impressive in its monochromatic elegance of unglazed bricks set in decorative patterns. It’s considered the best surviving example of 10th century Muslim architecture in the whole world.

While in Bukhara, we must see the Emir’s summer palace, Sitorai Mohi Hosa. It’s an extravagantly decorated Russian/Central Asian complex built in 1911. The palace also houses the excellent Bukhara Museum of Decorative Arts where the superb suzani collection will enthrall the embroidery lovers among us. The main building with its tall ceramic fireplaces houses treasures such as royal furniture of the 19th-20th centuries, palace artifacts from Russia, crystal chandeliers, and jewelry by well-known Bukharan masters.

On to Khiva

Onward from Bukhara to Khiva! This is a long drive, but the desert landscape is compelling: vast steppes, shepherds and their flocks, remote villages, and unusual vegetation. We’ll skirt the Kyzylkum or Red Sand Desert, and cross the Amu Darya River, known as the Oxus in ancient times.

Ichan Kala, the walled inner city of Khiva was an important stop on the Silk Road. It’s also the largest surviving walled city in the central part of Asia. Tiled and mosaic-encrusted treasures of Khiva’s old town include stunning palaces, mosques and minarets. There is a good carpet shop in Khiva also. Hand-knotted examples here show unusual and intricate patterns that were inspired by the designs of the tiles and doors of the city.

Fergana Valley of Ikat

Next we’ll fly back to Tashkent for a night and then drive to the Fergana Valley. After several hours, we’ll stop in Kokand for lunch and to visit the incredible Khudayarkhan Palace. Along the route we’ll stop several times, and to visit the bakers slapping dough rounds onto the walls of fiery domed ovens

Soon we arrive in Margilan, an ancient Fergana Valley city, and home of glowing resist-warp dyed (ikat) fabrics, the most renowned of Uzbek textiles. Margilan town was well-known in antiquity for the superb quality of silk created here. We’ll meet ikat dyers and weavers who are the most skilled in Central Asia. Over the course of our days there, we’ll visit ikat masters to see thread binders, weavers, and dyers. Stunning ceramic plates and bowls will be available at the master ceramicist’s studio we’ll visit too All the pieces are intricately hand-painted and wood fired on site.

 A highlight will be the Kumtepa Bazaar, one of the best places to buy inexpensive ikat fabrics (with resist-dyed warp) which are the most renowned textiles of Uzbekistan. It’s a great local market with an area devoted to textiles. Here you can buy ikat yardage to make robes, quilts or pillows, and other textile treasures.

Later we’ll visit an ikat dyeing workshop and will see how the warp threads are bound to make the bold patterns. We’ll visit the Yodgorlik Margilan silk factory where we can see the entire process from reeling silk cocoons to the finished ikat.

Over the Border Into Kyrgyzstan!

After our time in Uzbekistan, we’ll head over the border with a Kyrgyz specialist guide who will explain Kyrgyz history and culture. We’ll see the highlights of the country, starting in the capital, Bishkek, where we’ll visit verdant and peaceful Oak Park and other historical monuments. In the Kyrgyz State Historical Museum we’ll learn more about traditional Kyrgyz nomadic culture. There’s a typical yurt and mannequins dressed in local dress, as well as an excellent collection of felted shyrdak carpets.

We’ll have several opportunities to learn about Kyrgyz felt-making, in NGO supported workshops around the country. Best known for making felted rugs, saddle blankets, and tent bands, Kyrgyz artists also create charming felt toys and clothing such as warm slippers, pretty shawls and scarves. 

In Bishkek, we’ll meet a talented felt artist, learn about her techniques and see her latest work. Then she will guide us as we try our hand at making beautiful silk and wool felted scarves! First we’ll choose a background color of silk, then we’ll cut out merino felt or roving to lay onto our scarves. Finally we’ll add soap and water and roll the cylinders on the table until felt patterns are perfectly enmeshed into the silk. Voilà! Gorgeous scarves you will be proud to wear at home!

We’ll also visit some women’s coops where the felting methods are different and they make varieties of home decor and accessories, such as the colorful appliqué shyrdak rugs, left.

The Beauty of Felt!

Later we’ll drive to Kochkor village, 260 kms from Bishkek. Kochkor is a famous province for farmers and woolen felt makers, and we’ll visit the Altyn Kol Women’s Handicraft Co-operative. At the Felt Master’s studio, we will learn how nomadic Kyrgyz women make felt rugs called Shyrdak. These floor coverings are made by cutting positive and negative shapes out of prepared felt in various brightly dyed colors. Then the positive shapes are inserted into the negative spaces of the background and stitched.

The women at the coop will show us another process of felt carpet making. This method of layering colored felt shapes or strands of roving on a felted background is called ala kyiz and is different from the modern art felt shyrdak rugs we have seen before. The backing felt and the front design are sprinkled with hot water, then rolled into a cylinder. One or more people roll the cylinder back and forth with their feet, adding hot water and soap occasionally, for about 45 minutes. The roll is opened and the rug is revealed!

In this area, we may spend a night in a welcoming and comfortable home stay. These are fun because we get a glimpse of how people really live! The families who volunteer to have travelers as guests are lively, interested folks who like to talk about the outside world.

On to Karakol

Next morning, we’ll continue to Kyzyl-Tuu village where a Kyrgyz family member will show us how to assemble a felt-sided traditional yurt. Here we will also learn about Kyrgyz national traditions such as beshik (baby cradle ceremony) with a demonstration using a cheerful local babe!

A traditional eagle hunter will demonstrate his Golden Eagle’s skill by letting the eagle loose to chase and snag a goatskin with a chunk of meat attached (no animals harmed in the demo).

We’ll continue to Karakol town, one of the first Russian military outposts, founded in 1869. Here we can see the wooden Russian Orthodox church called the Holy Trinity Cathedral. This masterpiece of woodworking has distinctive cutwork wooden trim all along the eaves. The cathedral was used for many non-religious purposes after the Revolution, but in 1991, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the Independence of Kyrgyzstan, the local authority gave the building back to the church; services are held there today, for a small congregation. There is also a most unusual pagoda-influenced Chinese mosque with complex woodwork decorations under the eaves.

Winding it up with Music…

And on our last night in the rural countryside, we’ll have a superb dinner at a Uighur family house, with an interesting Kyrgyz musicians’ folk concert. The talented and welcoming musicians will explain their unique, handmade instruments too. 

Then on our way back to Bishkek we’ll stop to see the enormous field of boulders with ancient rock engravings at Cholpon-Ata’s open-air museum. With a splendid background made of high snowy mountains, this collection of petroglyphs dates back more than 4,000 years.

This open-air museum is a very important historical site, located on a territory of 42 ha (104 acres). It includes both petroglyphs and prehistoric structures.

We’ll also see the Burana Tower, a truncated minaret, from the 11^th century with another open-air collection of interesting pre-Islamic images on human-shaped tombstones.

At the end of our adventure, after seeing gorgeous suzanis, stunning ikat yardage and beautiful silk and felt scarves, we’ll return to Bishkek for a good night’s sleep before flying home the next day. We will fly home on May 2 from Bishkek.