The story of Kalyan Minaret

This is the tower that impressed Genghis Khan. About a hundred years after it was built, he ordered it spared while his men destroyed everything around it. The Kalyan Minaret was raised in 1127 by the Qarakhanid ruler Mohammad Arslan Khan, to call the faithful to prayer five times a day.

It is 45.6 metres high, 9 metres across at the bottom and 6 metres at the top, and a spiral brick staircase winds up inside to the lantern with its sixteen open arches. Legend says the master builder Bako laid the foundation with alabaster and camel milk, then vanished for two years until it had hardened, and only then began the brickwork. He was later buried 45 metres from the minaret.

In wartime the tower served as a watchtower, and it is also known as the Tower of Death, because until the early twentieth century condemned criminals were thrown from its top. In 1997, for Bukhara's 2500th anniversary, it was thoroughly restored.