Roghbonli Mosque, Khiva
Unlike the magnificent mosques, the
neighborhood houses of worship are of smaller size,
but are as striking in their use of space and splendid
decorations. In the neighborhood mosque Roghbonli,
built in the southern part of Ichan-kala at the beginning
of the nineteenth century, one finds an example of
this. The mosque is a building of symmetrical composition,
where there is a darvazakhana, yard, aivan and mosque
hall on the longitudinal axis north south. The entrance
consists of three parts. There is a cupola-topped
building in the center. On the sides of it there are
rooms for ritual washing (tokharatkhana). The mosque
represents a rectangular hall with a two- pillared
aivan opened to the north. A cupola tops the hall.
Coloured overlay and a carved door decorate the facade
of the darvazakhana. The interior is plastered. The
decorated ceiling of the aivan is covered by patterns.
The wooden pillars, apparently, were brought here
from another building. Their decoration, similar to
the pillars of the sixteenth century from Jumah mosque
suggests this idea. There are many scripts of nastalikh
type in the interior of the hall, on the walls of
the aivan and on the doors, giving verses, the date
of construction — 1809 — and the name
of the master, Ruz Muhammad. The original-figured
capitals soften the change of vertical pillar to horizontal
beams.
The composition of the Boghbonli reminds one very
much of the Ak-mechet with only one difference, that
the latter has an aivan on three sides. The harmonic
combination of the open space with a yard, which has
a half-open aivan and closed hall, gives the mosque
Boghbonli completeness and steadiness. And the decorative
elements of this quarter-mosque show the beauty of
tradition of the Khorezm school of architecture once
more.
