Khoja Nasreddin Monument
The wise fool of Central Asian folk tales on his donkey, cast in bronze in 1979 by the sculptor Yakov Shapiro.
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Script
Among the ancient buildings around Lyabi-Hauz, you are greeted by a smiling man riding a donkey. This is the monument to Khoja Nasreddin Effendi. The bronze statue was installed in Bukhara in 1979 and created by sculptor Yakov Shapiro. Although it belongs to a much later period than the surrounding monuments, it fits Bukhara's popular spirit remarkably well.
Khoja Nasreddin is primarily a folk character. His anecdotes have been told for centuries across Central Asia, the Middle East, and other regions. He is clever, humorous, and quick-witted, using laughter to expose greed, hypocrisy, cowardice, bribery, and injustice.
His connection with Bukhara is fascinating. It is difficult to prove that Nasreddin actually lived in Bukhara, because versions of the character exist across many cultures. Yet in Uzbekistan he became so closely associated with Bukhara that he is now one of the city's cultural symbols.
Twentieth-century writer Leonid Solovyov wrote novels about Khoja Nasreddin and brought the character into stories set in Bukhara. Film adaptations helped make the association even stronger.
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