Khast Imam Complex

Khast Imam Complex, also called Hazrati Imam, is the religious and historical heart of the Old City (Eski Shahar) of Tashkent, Uzbekistan, standing on Zarqaynar Street in the Olmazor District. The name derives from the Imam Abu Bakr Muhammad Kaffal Shashi, a 10th-century Islamic jurist, scholar and poet of Shash (the medieval name for Tashkent), whose tomb gave the district its sacred character. The Kaffal Shashi Mausoleum, rebuilt in the 16th century, remains the earliest focus of the ensemble, and the surrounding square gradually gained madrasas and mosques over the following centuries.

The principal historic buildings are the Barak Khan Madrasa, built in the 16th century under the Shaybanid ruler Navruz Ahmad Khan, known as Barak Khan; the Tillya Sheikh Mosque, a 19th-century Friday mosque; and the Mui Mubarak Madrasa, which now houses the Muyi Muborak Library Museum. Together they form a courtyard of blue-tiled domes, carved wooden columns and painted ceilings typical of Central Asian Islamic architecture. Alongside these older structures, the Khast Imam Mosque with its two tall minarets and large turquoise domes was completed in 2007 as part of a major expansion that reshaped the square into a pedestrian precinct.

What is preserved here is above all manuscript heritage. The Library Museum displays the Uthman Quran, a 7th-century copy traditionally linked to the third caliph Uthman, which Timur took to Samarkand, which later passed to St Petersburg after the Russian conquest, and which returned to Tashkent in 1924. Alongside it are other rare Qurans and manuscripts, some in large formats, and religious objects. The Tillya Sheikh Mosque holds a smaller display of Qurans in its reading rooms. The complex also contains the offices of the Muslim Board of Uzbekistan, so parts of it remain closed to casual visitors.

The presentation is not a chronological museum in the usual sense; it is a living religious precinct in which visitors walk between buildings, with the library and mausoleum acting as the principal exhibits. Restoration has been extensive. Soviet-era conservation was followed by independence-period rebuilding from the 1990s, and the 2007 construction added new masonry in traditional styles, so visitors see a blend of authentic 16th-19th century fabric and modern reconstruction. Craft workshops, bookshops and tea sellers operate in the former student cells around the square, which gives the area a lively daytime atmosphere. Because it is an active place of worship, modest clothing is expected and interior access can be limited around prayer times, especially on Fridays.