The Ismail Samani Mausoleum is the oldest building in Bukhara, standing west of the city center in a park erected during Soviet times. The mausoleum is believed to have served as the family tomb of the Samanid dynasty (819-1005), the descendants of a noble Persian family who governed Transoxiana on behalf of the Abbasid Caliphate, based in Baghdad. The tomb is named for Ismail Samani (r. 892-907), the dynasty’s most esteemed ruler, who was often celebrated for his virtues and lionized by the 11th-century Seljuk vizier Nizam al-Muk, who recommended him as a model of good leadership in his Book of Government.
