Away from Bukhara's main tourist routes stands Chor-Minor — a compact building with four differently patterned blue-domed towers, built in the early 19th century as the gatehouse of a madrasah that no longer survives. Despite its modest size, it became one of the city's most recognizable symbols precisely because of its unusual architecture. A few minutes' walk away is the still-functioning 16th-century Mir-i-Arab Madrasah with its twin blue domes — one of the few Islamic schools in the region that never stopped operating, even during the Soviet era. The interior is closed to visitors, but the facade and domes are clearly visible from Poi Kalyan square. Both sites rarely make standard "what to see" lists, even though they sit just steps from Bukhara's better-known landmarks.
