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self-contained structure with monumental main portal leading to a series of inner courtyards; apartments for traveling merchants and possibly more lavish quarters for traveling dignitarieson the road between Bukhara and Samarqand "...major monuments in modern north-eastern Khurasan and Turkmenistan for which patronage at the highest level can confidently be assumed, if indeed it is not specifically recorded either epigraphically or in the literary sources. Such buildings include Ribat-i Malik (470/1078)...furnished with an elaborate set of apartments or even a major dome chamber and this can scarcely have been intended for daily use by merchants. Such refinements strongly suggest that these buildings had functions which extended well beyond the needs of trade. They could in fact be described more accurately as palaces in the desert, but palaces which doubled as stopovers servicing the caravan trade."exterior, overall view of portal and walls from road, 2009