Palace of Khudoyar Khan

The construction of the palace was begun during the reign of Kokand Khanate Muhammad Alikhan , before the birth of Khudoyar Khan.

In 1822, Muhammad Alikhan , a minor son of Umar Khan , better known as Madalikhan, ascended the throne. On behalf of the heir to the throne, part of government affairs began to be managed by his mother Nadira , a famous Uzbek poetess and patron of science and art. With her, the construction of the palace was begun. For unknown reasons, the construction of the palace was soon suspended. It resumed in 1863, during the reign of Khudoyar Khan. The palace was built over four years. ^[1] .

The construction of the palace under Khudoyar Khan was supervised by the architect Mir Ubaidullo Muhandis. The best craftsmen from different cities of the Khanate and Kashgar participated in the finishing works, and the ceramic tiles for the facade were made by craftsmen from Rishtan - the ancient center of ceramics ^{[2] [3] [4]} .

In 1876, the palace was captured by the Russian Imperial Army, which entered Kokand. Kokand Khanate fell; the Russian garrison was located in the palace. After that, male and female parish schools were opened here and the Orthodox Church was located in the throne room.

After the October Revolution, in the 1920s, the rule of Koshchi , the mass organization of the working peasantry, was located here. In 1924, an agricultural exhibition of the Ferghana region was opened in the palace, and a year later in 1925, on the basis of this exhibition, it was decided to open the Kokand Museum of Local Lore. During the Second World War, the palace housed a military hospital.

Restoration

In 2009, the restoration of the Khudoyar Khan Palace began. The restoration of the right side of the facade of the main building is fully completed. The original brightness of the flowers was acquired by the ornament adorning the walls of the small and large throne rooms, as well as other rooms. The woodcarvers re-created several new doors and eight columns. The infrastructure of the museum was improved.

In 2011, according to the Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, “On measures to radically improve the architectural appearance and urban infrastructure of the city of Kokand,” a second restoration of the palace complex with landscaping was planned ^[5] . Metal fences with national ornaments around the palace were arranged, the low-value northwestern part of the palace was demolished and the Museum of Local Lore, located in the palace with modern equipment and displays, was re-equipped.

The total area of ​​the palace is 4 hectares, the height of the foundation is three meters. Due to the high foundation for access to the main gate on the east side, a special road was built - a ramp .

At the entrance to the top of the main portal there is a beautifully decorated carved inscription in Arabic: "The Great Said Muhammad Khudoyar Khan." The inscription is harmoniously combined with a pattern on skillfully designed doors. On the right is a minaret lined with ceramic tiles. Beautiful majolica ring-shaped patterns were made at the base and center of the minaret. In its original form, the palace was 138 meters long and 65 meters wide. The palace consisted of 119 rooms in 7 palaces. Many of the rooms were decorated with openwork carvings on wood and ganch , gilded cornices and ornamental tempera paintings cast from alabaster. The most magnificent were the throne room and the reception room, where the treasury, the treasury and the arsenal were located. There was a special room where the khan conducted a trial of citizens of the khanate. Even in the palace were the private chambers of Khodyar Khan and his wives. Luxuriously decorated rooms were also reserved for his children. The harem was located in one of the courtyards. The small rooms were inhabited by numerous captive slaves serving the palace.

The brilliantly decorated wall and ceiling panels were full of paints and ornamental subjects, many costs from the Koran, sayings of famous philosophers and wise rulers.

The throne room, the reception yard and the private chambers of the khan and his wives were especially distinguished by their excellent decoration: gilded cornices, painted paintings on the walls of different colors and shapes and carved pictographic motifs of oriental themes on wooden arches.

At that time, the palace complex was surrounded by internal and external fences. Until our time, these fences have not been preserved, only two courtyards and 19 rooms remain. The facade building with a length of 70 meters looks like colorful paints and rich ornaments: geometric patterns, floral motifs and arabesques.

Ganch carving, painting, excerpts from the Koran along the edges of blue ceramic tiles were made in the decor of the palace. The eastern part of the palace houses a large mosque with an area of ​​100 by 30 meters, which once belonged to a madrasah ^[2] .

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