Po-i-Kalyan

Po-i-Kalyan
Courtyard at Po-i-Kalyan, with the madrasa and minaret.
Basic information
Location	Bukhara, Uzbekistan
Affiliation	Islam
District	Bukhara
Province	Bukhara
Country	Uzbekistan
Ecclesiastical or organizational status	Mosque complex
Architectural description
Architectural type	Mosque, madrasa, courtyards, minaret
Architectural style	Islamic
Completed	12th-century, 16th-century
Specifications
Spire(s)	1
Spire height	45.6 m

Po-i-Kalyan or Poi Kalyan (Uzbek: Poi Kalon, Persian: پای کلان‎‎ Pā-i Kalān, which means "The Foot of the Great"), is an Islamic religious complex located around the Kalyan minaret in Bukhara, Uzbekistan.

The complex is located in the historic part of the city. Since 713, several ensembles of main mosques were built in this area, to the south of the Ark citadel. One of these complexes, burned down by Genghis Khan during the siege of Bukhara, was built in 1121 by the Karakhanid ruler Arslan-khan. The Kalyan minaret is the only one of the structures of Arslan-han complex that was kept safe during that siege.

The Kalyan minaret is known more properly as Minâra-i Kalân (Persian/Tajik for the "Grand Minaret"). It is also known as the Tower of Death because for centuries criminals were executed by being thrown from the top.

The minaret is the most famed part of the complex, which dominates the historical center of the city in the form of a huge vertical pillar. The role of the minaret is largely for traditional and decorative purposes - its dimension exceeds the bounds of the main function of the minaret, which is to provide a vantage point from which the muezzin can call people to prayer. For this purpose it was enough to ascend to a roof of the mosque. This practice was common in initial years of Islam. The word "minaret" is derived from the Arabic word "manara" ("lighthouse", or more literally "a place where something burn"). Probably the idea for the minarets of Islam was adopted from "fire-towers" or lighthouses of previous epochs.

The architect, whose name was simply Bako, made a minaret in the form of a circular-pillar brick tower, narrowing upwards, of 9 meters (29.53 feet) diameter at the bottom, 6 meters (19.69 feet) overhead and 45.6 meters (149.61 feet) high. There is a brick spiral staircase that twists up inside around the pillar, leading to the landing in sixteen-arched rotunda - skylight, which based on a magnificent stalactite cornice (sharafa).

Kalyan Mosque (Maedjid-i kalyan) was completed circa 1514, in the Khanate of Bukhara. It is equal in size to the Bibi-Khanym Mosque in Samarkand. Although they are both mosques, they are very different in architectural styles. The roof of the galleries encircling the mosque's inner courtyard has 288 domes resting on 208 pillars. Facing the courtyard is a tall tiled Iwan portal, for entry to the main prayer hall. The mosque is surmounted by a large blue tiled dome.