Rabati Malik Caravanserai

Uzbekistan has nominated 18 locations both individually and combined as one single serial nomination under the name “Silk roads in Uzbekistan”. Reading a recent review (by Els) about Bahoutdin complex, and all travels being cancelled for the time being, I dived into my notes and pictures from our 2007 trip in Uzbekistan to sort out which of these 18 sites we had actually visited. I counted a handful of them, and only one not reviewed so far: Raboti Malik caravanserai.

The remains of this caravanserai are located immediately along the main road from Bukhara to Samarkand, and as a traveller in Uzbekistan is likely to visit these two cities, I can only recommend to stop en route and have a look. It won’t take long anyway. On one side of the road stands the main gate of the caravanserai, adorned with brick pattern. A very old structure built some 950 years ago! Behind the gate, the rest of the building is almost all gone, but base of walls can still be seen. On the other side of the road is the cistern, a domed structure with stairs leading down to the water. There was no fence, no fees for visitors, and no information when we visited.

As an individual monument, it will never be inscribed. But it would obviously make sense to get it as a component of the “Silk road” nomination (which, in an ideal world, would be an extension of the already inscribed central Asia silk …