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Mir-i-Arab Madrasa faces the Kalyan Mosque across the Poi Kalyan plaza, its twin turquoise domes creating one of Central Asia's most iconic architectural compositions. Unlike most of Bukhara's historic madrasas, Mir-i-Arab remains an active Islamic seminary — one of only two that operated throughout the Soviet period.
Built between 1530 and 1536 by Sheikh Abdullah Yamani from Yemen (known as Mir-i-Arab), it was funded partly from the sale of 3,000 Persian slaves. During the Soviet era, it was one of only two Islamic seminaries permitted to operate in the entire USSR, making it a crucial institution for the survival of Central Asian Islamic scholarship.