Samples of decorative brickwork of domes
Alymbek Medrese is one of the well-known madrasahs in Osh, built in the late 1850s by the Kyrgyz tribal leader of Alai, a prominent Kokand feudal lord Alymbek-Datka. According to contemporaries, its decoration competed with the khan's madrasah in Kokand. The building, made of fired brick, was notably strong. According to archival documents, a circus was later established here. It consisted of a darс-khana, khanaka, and 28 cells, where three mudarris and between 80 to 100 students lived. According to an informant, whose ancestors had been connected with the Alymbek family for many decades, and who himself remembered the madrasah well, it was a square structure (40 X 50 m) with a height of up to 5 m. The facade was adorned with two 15-meter minarets. Inside the courtyard, there were 4 domes, a mosque, and iwans that could accommodate thousands of people on festive days. Built on the right bank of the Ak-Bura River, the madrasah was connected to the city center by a large suspension bridge, specially constructed at Alymbek's order.
In the 1920s and 1930s, the madrasah was dismantled. In 1983-1984, architect V. E. Nusov developed a reconstruction project for it as a model of the development of architecture of the Fergana architectural and construction school of the late medieval Central Asia.
According to Nusov's research, the external appearance of the madrasah represented a closed symmetrical composition. The high brick walls and four minarets at the corners, over 15 m tall, gave the structure a rather distinctive appearance, separating it from the outside world. The entrances were emphasized by high monumental portals with deep pointed arches.
The madrasah had a quite impressive appearance among the shabby residential buildings surrounding it. The courtyard of the madrasah was rectangular, surrounded by pointed arches. There was a khauz with running water supplied from the city-wide irrigation canal. Access to the flat roof and the second floor was via spiral staircases in the minarets. What the interior decoration was like is difficult to judge now, but it can be assumed that great attention was paid to the decor.
Today, it can be stated with certainty that this was the largest building of its time in Fergana. This unique complex represents both historical and architectural interest not only in terms of the development of architecture in southern Kyrgyzstan but also in Fergana as a whole. Unfortunately, the structure has not survived to this day.
