Leaning over a pile of embroidered fabrics called suzanis, a man wearing an atlas-patterned waistcoat tidies up his shop in the city of Bukhara, Uzbekistan. Once an important stop on the Silk Road, Bukhara was one of Central Asia’s major trading centres. At the crossroads of the main thoroughfares of the old city were covered merchant passages called tâq, three of which remain today: Tâq-e Zargarân (the jewellers’ dome), Tâq-e Telpaq-Forushân (the hatmakers’ dome), and Tâq-e Sarrafân (the money changers’ dome). These merchant domes, built in the second half of the 16th century under the Shaybanid dynasty, have left a lasting mark on the architecture of the old city. Today, they are a delight for tourists, who buy souvenirs of varying degrees of authenticity there.

Credits : Etienne de Vaumas (France)

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