The Hazrat Khizr Mosque is a small, intricate 19th-century mosque on the ridge overlooking the Shah-i-Zinda necropolis and the Siyob Bazaar. The current building dates from the 1850s but the site has been a place of worship since the 8th century — the original mosque on this spot is said to have been the first in Samarkand after the Arab conquest.
The interior is more delicate than Samarkand's larger monuments — carved wooden columns, painted floral panels, a small turquoise dome — and the terrace in front gives one of the best aerial views of the bazaar and the lower town. The first president of independent Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov, was buried in a mausoleum next door in 2016; his tomb is now a significant pilgrimage site for Uzbeks.