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The gargantuan iwan, or portal, into the Bibi-Khanym Mosque gives a hint at what’s to come. Once one of the largest mosques in the world, the 15th-century Bibi-Khanym measures nearly 135 feet high, dwarfing the surrounding buildings. The audacious building techniques were at the cutting-edge of architecture at the time–so much so that bricks from the dome of the mosque started to rain down on the floor below soon after its completion. The patterned blue, aqua, and tan geometric tilework on the outside of the mosque have been well restored, but inside has been left a crumbling, atmospheric ruin with stripped-blank walls, dirt floors, and nesting birds in the cracks and crevices.
