_The Khoja Zainuddin Mosque in Bukhara

This paper documents and analyzes the Khoja Zainuddin Mosque, one of the most sumptuous buildings in the old city of Bukhara and deserving of special study due to its architectural merits. However, the monument also provides important clues to better understanding cultural life in Bukhara in the first half of the sixteenth century, a historical period still seldom analyzed. The prominent role played by Bukhara in Transoxiana after the fifteenth century has already been recognized with respect to its literary production. Building activities can be seen as further evidence of the city’s leading position. Nevertheless, unlike the second half of the sixteenth century, little is known about the urban development of Bukhara in the first half of that century (1500–1557), under the rulers from the house of Shah Budaq b. Abu’l-Khayr Khan.