Gumbaz Synagogue

The Gumbaz Synagogue in Samarkand is recognizable by its modest exterior, which opens into an atmospheric prayer hall centered around an inner dome—the gumbaz—that gives the building its name. Constructed in eighteen ninety-one, the synagogue served the city’s historic Bukharan Jewish community during a period when the local mahalla, or Jewish quarter, was a center of religious and social life.