Mosque of Shaikh Muslihiddin

Mosque of Shaikh Muslihiddin

A large religious building complex known as the Sheikh Muslihiddin mausoleum is located in the historical center of Khujand. It was named after Muslihiddin Khujandi, a poet, and ruler of the town, who lived in the 12th century.

His biography, Manokib, has been preserved. According to folk legend, Sheikh Muslihiddin was a holy miracle man. After his death, he was initially buried in Unji village (a suburb of Khujand). However, after some time his followers carried the Sheikh’s ashes to the place where he lies now and built a mausoleum over his tomb.

The 12th-century burial-vault consists of a small burial vault made out of baked bricks decorated with terracotta and spray decor. It was later destroyed during a Mongol invasion and also suffered as a result of the general economic decline of Maveraunnahr in the 13th century. In the 14th century the mausoleum was rebuilt but with a different design and now consisted of two rooms. Its new look existed for some time, but then it was destroyed again for unknown reasons. In the 16th century a new building, quite different from previous one in its construction and plan, was built on the ruins of the old mausoleum. It acquired a new purpose – from being just a mausoleum it turned into a mausoleum-khonako, i.e. a building for prayer and ritual ceremonies.

The memorial has been reconstructed and repaired many times since and that has led to a distortion of the 16th century look of the mausoleum-khonako. In the second half of the 20th century the mausoleum for a long time housed the regional historical museum. In there museum in the building ceased to exist and its displays were taken to another place.