Hazrat Khizr Mosque

A 19th-century mosque (1854–55) on the southern edge of Afrasiyab, facing Shah-i-Zinda. The mausoleum of Uzbekistan's first president, Islam Karimov, opened in its grounds in 2018.

Corner of Shohizinda and Islam Karimov streets, Samarkand

In brief

Legend says one of Samarkand's first mosques stood here in the early 8th century, after the Arab conquest, until the Mongols destroyed it in 1220. The present mosque rose on the old foundations in 1854–55; it was decorated in 1884, its iwan was rebuilt in 1899, and in 1919 the master builder Abduqodir Boqiyev added the portal and the eastern minaret. The building was restored in the 1990s.

The Hazrat Khizr Mosque is on the national register as a monument of the 11th–19th centuries and is used free of charge by the Vaqf charitable foundation; see the monument page for more.

Official list: Listed by the Samarkand branch of the Muslim Board of Uzbekistan (sammuslim.uz).

Visiting a mosque: cover shoulders and knees (women should wear a headscarf) and take your shoes off at the door; avoid prayer times and ask before taking photos.

Details come from official sources and were checked in October 2026. Details may change — please check before you visit. Something wrong? Let us know

Sources (7)

1. lex.uz/uz/docs/-4543266
2. whc.unesco.org/en/list/603/
3. ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Мечеть_Хазрет-Хызр
4. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazrat_Khizr_Mosque
5. uz.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazrati_Xizr_masjidi
6. yandex.uz/maps/org/187612657337/
7. openstreetmap.org/way/614044909