Roofing in Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan lies at the heart of the old Silk Road, and its historic cities, Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva, are famous for their brick domes, tiled cupolas and covered markets. Ordinary houses were built of mud brick around courtyards, with richly painted timber ceilings. After the 1966 earthquake, central Tashkent was rebuilt with large Soviet-era apartment complexes.

Climate and hazards

The climate is continental and dry, with hot summers and cold winters, and most of the population lives in irrigated oases and river valleys. Earthquakes are a serious hazard: the shallow earthquake of 26 April 1966, of magnitude about 5.2 with its epicentre in central Tashkent, destroyed between 78,000 and 95,000 homes, most of them traditional adobe houses in the dense central districts, and left an estimated 200,000-300,000 people homeless. Earthen buildings are also vulnerable to gradual deterioration, and termites damage timber structures.

Roofing history

The site of Afrasiab, the predecessor of Samarkand, was founded in the 7th century BCE. Building in mud brick and fired brick reached a high point under the Samanids and later the Timurids. In Bukhara, the Ismail Samani mausoleum of the 10th century is regarded by UNESCO as the best-surviving example of 10th-century architecture in the Muslim world, and the brick Kalyan (Poi-Kalyan) minaret dates from 1127. Samarkand's greatest development came in the 14th-15th centuries, when it was capital of Timur's realm; its Registan mosques and madrasahs were built in mud brick and covered with decorated ceramic tiles, and the period produced the Bibi-Khanum mosque and the Gur-Emir ensemble.

Bukhara's covered markets were built as domes over street crossings, such as Taki Sarafon ("dome of the money-changers") and Taki Tilpak Furushon ("dome of the cap sellers"). In Khiva's walled inner town, Itchan Kala, the Djuma (Friday) Mosque is a covered hall of about 55 by 46 m (180 by 150 ft), carried on 212 columns and lit by two octagonal lanterns in the roof.

In the Soviet period, after the 1966 earthquake, Tashkent was rebuilt with wide boulevards and large apartment complexes; about 100,000 new homes had been completed by 1970.

Traditional and vernacular roofs

• Courtyard houses: one- or two-storey mud-brick houses around a central courtyard with a garden, with painted wooden ceilings and wall decoration.
• Aivan: a covered portico or veranda on carved wooden posts, used for reception rooms in Khiva and elsewhere.
• Domes and vaults: brick domes over mausoleums, mosques, madrasahs and market crossings, often clad in glazed tiles.
• Karakalpak yurt: the felt yurt of the Karakalpak people of north-western Uzbekistan, included by UNESCO in 2025 in the listing of Turkic yurt-making skills.

Codes, standards and regulation

Uzbekistan's seismic code KMK 2.01.02-96, Norms and regulations for construction in seismic zones, was approved in 1996 and updated the seismic zoning maps and earthquake recurrence data inherited from the Soviet SNiP system.

Notable roofs

• Ismail Samani mausoleum, Bukhara (10th century).
• Trading domes of Bukhara, such as Taki Sarafon.
• Registan, Bibi-Khanum and Gur-Emir, Samarkand (Timurid period).
• Djuma Mosque, Khiva: covered hall on 212 columns with two roof lanterns.

All are parts of UNESCO World Heritage Sites (Historic Centre of Bukhara; Samarkand - Crossroad of Cultures; Itchan Kala).

Local roofing terms

• taki (Tajik/Uzbek): dome over a market crossing
• aivan: covered portico or veranda

Sources and gaps

Descriptions of the construction of traditional flat roofs, statistics on modern roofing materials and information on the roofing industry: published information is limited.