Gijduvan and Its Ceramics
The region's only surviving centre of polychrome glazed ceramics: workshops with the potters and, by common consent, the best kebabs in the country.
Duration
120 min
About
Gijduvan, forty-six kilometres from Bukhara, is one of the country's craft centres, long known for its distinctive ceramics. It is now the only surviving centre of polychrome glazed ceramics in the region, grown out of ancestral practice and carrying it on without a break.
The Gijduvan school is recognised by its geometric forms and plant motifs — birds and flowers in the ornament are routine here. The pieces are works rather than tableware. The knowledge passes from generation to generation, so visitors have the rare chance to watch the masters closely and, if they like, sit at the wheel themselves: a dish or a jug you have made can be painted and taken home.
There is a second reason to come. Gijduvan makes kebabs that many call the best in Uzbekistan — and that is probably the most frequent local recommendation.
The town's founding date is lost, but from the tenth century it was known as one of the region's developed trading centres. Its wider fame came from the Sufi Abdalkhaliq Gijduvani — successor to Yusuf Hamadani and founder of the Khwajagan order, which became the foundation for later Sufi orders.