Kalon Minaret, Bukhara

Imagine a brick tower that has been standing for nearly 900 years and still looks beautiful! That is the Kalon Minaret in Bukhara, Uzbekistan. It is 47 meters tall — about as high as a 15-story building.

The minaret is decorated with 14 different patterns of bricks, all done by hand. Each ring around the tower is a different geometric design. When the sun moves across the sky, the shadows on the bricks make the patterns look like they are dancing.

The story goes that when the cruel ruler Genghis Khan attacked Bukhara, he destroyed nearly everything — but when he saw this tower, he was so amazed that he ordered his soldiers to leave it standing.

Bukhara was one of the great centers of Islamic learning. The famous scholar Imam Bukhari, who collected the most respected book of Hadith, was born and lived here. So when you look at the Kalon Minaret, you are looking at the city of Imam Bukhari himself!