The Registan square to the west of the Ark in the past was the developed social center of the city with office blocks, palaces, mosques and commercial sections of bazaar. There was also hospital (dar ash-shifa) at the square, where, patients could receive potions (dori) and special food for treatment. The hospital had a lay-out similar to madrasahs. It had wards for bed-patients, the dispensary and the pharmacy. The hospital was also the training unit for physicians.

Opposite the Ark is situated the Bolo-khauz Complex (on Bukhara map Bolo Khauz Mosque) which is the only monument of the Registan square that survived through the years. In the water of the pond one can see a reflection of the colorfully painted eivan - a gallery with colonnade - and of the minaret. The earliest part of this complex is the pond ("khauz") called "Bolo-khauz" ("children's pond") - one of the few remaining ponds surviving in the city of Bukhara. Until the Soviet period there were many such ponds, which were the city's principal source of water, but they were notorious for spreading disease and were mostly cut off from water during the 1920s and 30s.

They say that Emir Shahmurad (1785 - 1800) built up the mosque for his in public prayers, for he loved to be closer to his people.

Sources

1. Боло-хауз
2. Bolo-Hauz Komplex