Maghoki Attori Mosque

 Maghoki Attori Mosque (Uzbek: Magʻoki Attori masjidi, Tajik: Масҷиди Мағокии Атторӣ, romanized: Masjidi Maghokii Attori, Persian: مسجد مغاکی عطاری, romanized: Masjed-e Maghākī-ye Attārī) is a historical mosque in Bukhara, Uzbekistan. It forms a part of the historical religious complex of Lyab-i Hauz. The mosque is located in the historical center of Bukhara, about 300 meters southwest of Po-i-Kalyan, 100 meters southwest of the Toqi Telpak Furushon trading dome and 100 meters east of Lab-i Hauz. It is a part of UNESCO World Heritage Site Historic Centre of Bukhara.[2] Today, the mosque is used as a carpet museum.

It is speculated as built in the 9th to 10th century on the remains of a Zoroastrian temple from the pre-Islamic era.[1] Before the Arab conquest there was a bazaar on the site of Maghoki Attori Mosque. It was a market for idols, potions and spices – attor (perfumes) and other goods. Besides this, there was formerly a Temple of the Moon (Mah) close to this place. Before the construction of the first synagogue, Jews in Bukhara had shared a place in the mosque with Muslims. 

In the 12th century, when Kara-Khanids reigned in Bukhara, the mosque was substantially rebuilt and re-dressed. It also received a new main facade in the south.[3] In the middle of the 15th century, it was restored and a new portal with iwan was built in the eastern ground.[4] At the beginning of the 1930s the mosque was restored again.

 

The first mosques were laid in Transoxiana by the Arabs in the process of conquest of some of its regions, moreover, only in the main cities, with the purpose of converting the population to the new faith, they were often laid on the site of pre-Islamic religious buildings. Thus, in Bukhara, the Magoki-Attari mosque arose on the site of a former fire temple.Its history goes back to the distant Sogdian country, when this area was the site of the Makh (Moon) bazaar, there was a temple and images of folk deities were sold.