This small brick building dating from 868 is the burial place of Ismail I, the founder of the Samanid dynasty. For almost a century, the Samanids ruled a vast region stretching from eastern Iran to southern Kazakhstan, including Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, with Bukhara as their capital. The mausoleum is the only building that bears witness to their presence.

Crédit : Madina A’zam (@madinaazam_photography, Uzbekistan)

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Kazakh pilgrims and tourists of all ages endure a lot of hardship to climb down from the Ustyurt plateau along narrow paths and countless steps to the underground mosque of the Sufi Beket-Ata. In the chalk and limestone desert of the Mangystau region with its impressive rock formations, the sun shines in April against an almost cloudless sky and daytime temperatures often reach over 30 degrees.

Credit: Balzhan & Axel Monse (Germany)

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Some Chinese tourist visiting the Apaq Khodja Mausoleum, in the Xinjiang region. Built in 1640 to be the tomb of Muhammad Yusuf, a Sufi master from the Bukhara-based Naqshbandi Sufi order. It however holds the name of its son, Apaq Khoja, who is one of the most famous Sufi figures of this part of Central Asia, making this mausoleum, one of the holiest places for Muslims of the region. Credit: The Editorial

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The unique dome of the Gur Emir Mausoleum in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, has 64 evenly spaced ribs, each of which is supposed to represent one year of the Prophet Mohammed’s life. Credit: Akbar Ibragimov (Uzbekistan)

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The central square around the mausoleum of Sheikh Muslihiddin in Khujand. The sovereign’s tomb has existed in its original state for 800 years.

Credit: Simon Massicotte

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In the mausoleum of Baha-ud-din Naqshband, near Bukhara in Uzbekistan.

Credit: Charlotte Bonin (France)

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A woman sits in the courtyard of the Gur Emir mausoleum in Samarkand, where Tamerlane (Amir Timur), the national hero, and his family are buried.

Credit: Tanya Zavkieva (Uzbekistan)

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