Khoja Abdi Berun Mosque

A Friday mosque in the Khoja Abdi Berun ensemble, raised in the 1630s by Nadir Divan-Begi over a 12th-century shrine and restored in the 2000s.

Sarimozor St, Qoshkoprik mahalla, Samarkand District

History

Berun means 'outer': the saint was buried outside the city wall, and the name contrasts the complex with Khoja Abdi Darun ('inner') within the old city. Some scholars think both shrines honour the same holy man.

The shrine was embellished in the 12th century but lay in ruins after the Mongol invasion of 1220. In 1633 Nadir Divan-Begi, a powerful official at the Bukharan court, built a raised tomb platform (dakhma) over the grave and walled it in brick; a khanqah and a summer mosque soon followed. No money went into upkeep in Soviet times, and restoration, begun in the 2000s, was largely complete by 2013.

The mosque

The summer mosque fills the west side of the burial court: a flat-roofed terrace on wooden posts, open to the court, with a majolica-trimmed mihrab set in its brick wall. A small minaret was added beside the main entrance in the 2000s. The national register dates the Khoja Abdi Berun complex (khanqah, iwan and dakhma) to the 15th century.

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 (8)