Museum of Wood Carving

About

The museum occupies the Abdulaziz Khan madrasah of 1652, and the building is every bit as interesting as the collection. It stands opposite the Ulugh Beg madrasah, forming an ensemble with it, and its portal carries rare depictions — a Chinese dragon and the Simurgh bird — unusual in Islamic architecture.

The display opened in 1988 as the country's first devoted entirely to decorative wood carving. It covers the Bukhara school of the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, when carved wood finished mosques, madrasahs and private houses alike.

The halls hold carved doors, columns, panels and interior elements, with smaller objects alongside: caskets, low tables, dervish staffs and printing blocks for textiles. Much of this once stood in working buildings rather than vitrines.

The chirma technique deserves particular attention — deep carving with plant ornament that gives the surface real depth and a lively play of light.

The museum explains well how the craft was built into the architecture and daily life of Bukhara rather than existing apart from them.