 Return
to Poi-Kalyan, continue for half a minute along ex-Ulitsa Kommunarov and
you come to old Bukhara's Hatton Garden, Taq-i-Zargaran (1569-70). This
was the biggest of the city's famous multi-domed bazaars and is one of
three to have survived. The idea was to exploit the bedlam of a busy cross-roads
by turning the crossroads itself into the bazaar. A high cupola 14 m across
rises over the intersection on a drum. Trade-heated air escapes through
high windows, drawing in cooler air from the streets. The drum, surrounded
by myriad smaller domes, rests on an octagonal hall, four of whose sides
are shop-fronts while traffic Hows in and out through the other four. Taq-i-Zargaran
still trades, but in tourist trinkets rather than Asia's costliest gemstones.
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