Ark Fortress

The Ark included various facilities such as the emir’s residence, throne room, police department, stables, storage for clothes, carpets, utensils, treasures, an armory, a jail, jewelers’ and other workshops, a mint, mosques, mazars (mausoleums), and other buildings. The first thing visitors see is the massive fortress gates of the Ark, a portal flanked by two-story towers on either side of the archway, with a latticed architectural gallery on top. Behind the gates is a musical pavilion built in the 17th century, featuring a two-colored audience chamber surrounded by a gallery. Here, a series of makoms (musical works) were performed throughout the day, allowing people to tell the time, a tradition dating back to Zoroastrian times. From the ayvan (veranda), princes would watch ceremonies and executions in Registan Square before the Ark. The citadel’s interior is accessed through a gloomy, arched, and ascending passageway known as the dalon. Alongside this passage are 12 niches leading to damp dungeons where prisoners languished. These dungeons, located under the bridge of planks and the Ark gates towers, were notorious for their harsh conditions.

To the south of the entrance from the dalon lies one of the most interesting preserved monuments: the throne room of the Bukharan emir. This drawing room for ceremonies and festivals is a vast, brick-paved yard surrounded by ayvans on well-proportioned wooden pillars on three sides. On the long axis of the yard, in a deep ayvan, stands the emir’s throne. This marble «takht,» dating back to 1669, is situated under a painted wooden canopy supported by intricately carved marble pillars, crafted by Nurata masters.