Chor-Bakr Necropolis, Bukhara

How much is the Chor Bakr entrance fee?

Expect to pay roughly 10,000–15,000 UZS, which is pocket change. These are unofficial figures: the Sputnik8 travel guide lists 10,000 UZS with under-7s free, and mentions 15,000 UZS elsewhere on the same page. The complex has no website or published price list, so we mark the fee as unconfirmed. One travel blog from 2025 calls it a non-ticketed monument, so you may find nobody selling tickets at all.

Bring cash in som. Visa and Mastercard are accepted at many hotels, restaurants and ATMs in Bukhara, but not at a village gate. Yandex Go lets you pay the taxi by card in the app or in cash. If you’re on a countryside tour, check whether admission is included — some operators include it and some don’t.

What is Chor Bakr?

The name is Persian for ‘Four Bakrs’ — four sheikhs called Abu Bakr are honoured here. The first was Abu Bakr Saad, a scholar of Islamic law said to descend from the Prophet Muhammad. He settled in Sumitan in the 10th century and died in 970; pilgrims began visiting his grave and a cemetery grew around it.

What you see today belongs to the Juybari sheikhs, a dynasty of Sufi leaders who in the 16th century had as much sway in Bukhara as the khans. The Shaybanid ruler Abdullah Khan II built the mosque, madrasa and khanqah as a gift to his mentor, Khoja Juybari — Wikipedia dates it to 1559, Afisha.uz and Orexca to 1560. The sheikh died in 1563, was buried beside Abu Bakr Saad, and Chor Bakr became the family’s burial ground.

Instead of domed mausoleums, the family built hazira: roofless walled courtyards entered through a single ornate gate. Rows of them, with narrow lanes in between, give the place its nickname, the ‘city of the dead’. In 2023 Chor Bakr was inscribed by UNESCO as one component of the Silk Roads: Zarafshan-Karakum Corridor.

What to see at Chor Bakr

• The main courtyard with the khanqah, mosque and madrasa — the showpiece of the complex and the best overall view.
• Tall tiled portals with blue and turquoise patterns and calligraphy on the facades.
• The small minaret and the pool in the courtyard — the classic Chor Bakr photo.
• The lanes between the hazira — walk past the main court to the back, where it’s quietest and the ‘city’ layout makes sense.
• Carved family gates: each courtyard has its own entrance and decoration.
• Carved marble gravestones inside the courtyards — look from the path, don’t step onto the graves.

Is Chor Bakr worth visiting?

Yes, if you have two days or more in Bukhara. It’s the calmest of the big sights around the city: fewer tour groups than at the Ark or Lyabi-Hauz, and you can wander the courtyards at your own pace. It also shows a different Bukhara — not the emirs, but the sheikhs who held spiritual power behind them.

With only one day, stay in the old town: the Ark, Po-i-Kalyan and the trading domes matter more and need no car. If cemeteries and architecture without museum displays don’t interest you, the necropolis can feel repetitive — without a guide’s stories much of it is just walls and gates.

Chor Bakr vs Sitorai Mokhi-Khosa vs the Samanid Mausoleum

Chor Bakr and Sitorai Mokhi-Khosa make one easy taxi half-day. If you’d rather skip the car, the Samanid Mausoleum gives you early Bukhara within walking distance.

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How to do it right

• Go in the morning: it’s cooler, the courtyards are quiet and the light is soft on the tiles.
• Combine it with Sitorai Mokhi-Khosa — one driver, one half-day.
• Hire a guide or read up first: without the Juybari story the courtyards blur together.
• Don’t step on gravestones or grave enclosures — this is still a working cemetery.
• Carry small som notes; there may be no change at the gate.

Questions