Mosques and Madressas

Madressas are schools for Islamic study and mosques are, of course, for worship. Since the fall of the USSR in early 1900’s, both of these institutions have experienced increases in usage. In the 1920’s, the Bolsheviks closed more than 24,000 mosques in Central Asia.
Tragically, the mosque above was used as a warehouse by the Soviets. It’s big enough to hold 10,000 people. It was re-opened in 1991. Our guide-book reports that in Uzbekistan, mosques have been re-opening at a rate of 10 per day since the Soviets left.