 A
19th-century oddity remains to be seen near the eastern edge of the old
town. In 1807 Khalif Niyaz-Kul, a rich Turkmen merchant, built a large
madrasa whose gatehouse survives in a maze of mud streets north of Ulitsa
Pushkina and 500 m east of the Kukeldash madrasa. It looks like an upside-down
commode. Its name, Chor Minar, means 'four minarets', but its four rounded
towers never called people to prayer. Before their blue tiles were restored,
each one sprouted a stork's nest.
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