ARK FORTRESS, BUKHARA

The ancient legend credits the construction of the Ark citadel to Siyavush – an epic hero of the Central Asia. Young Siyavush fell in love with the local Khan’s daughter, and the father, as it often happens in legends, decided to put him to a test. The Khan unrolled a bull’s skin on the ground and ordered Siyavush to build him a palace on the ground under this skin. But, again as it should be in a decent legend, Siyavush was smart, he cut the skin into narrow ribbons, tied them together and had circled an area where he built the palace, which we now call an Ark of Buhara. Siyavush himself is said to be buried under the main gate of the fortress.

However, that’s just a legend. The Ark was build by thousands of slaves with quite primitive tools. It was meant to be a symbol of local rulers’ strength, power and stability. Alas, the Ark’s history is quite different: it was ruined, rebuild and reconstructed many times, over and over again. The real age of the fortress is unknown; what’s known is that 15 centuries ago it already was a residence for rulers of a quite vast and populated area, and its first construction days are probably two – two and a half thousand years away from us.

The fortress housed the ruler himself, with all his wives, servants and vaults full of treasures, the major civil and military officers with their families, various workshops and storehouses, stables, armories and a prison; the population of the Ark fortress was up to 3000 people.

The Ark was also known to have a unique library which attracted some of the most prominent eastern scientists, philosophers and writers: Rudaki, Ferdousi, Avicenna, Farabi and Omar Hayam. Avicenna has described it as follows: “In this library I have found books which I never knew about, and have never seen ever since. After reading them I have understood the place of each scientist in science. They have uncovered such a depth of knowledge before me which I never knew before.” The fate of the library is unknown; most probably it was plundered and lost in one of wars that rolled over Bukhara.

As it was said above, the Ark was rebuilt multiple times. In pre-Islamic period a major reconstruction was done in IX-X centuries during the reign of Samanid’s dynasty. In 1220 the Ark was the last stronghold of resistance against Chingiz-Khan; it fell under the conqueror’s mighty siege and was ruined.

In XVI century, under Sheibanids’ dynasty, the fortress was rebuilt again and became the Ark as we know it today, more or less. In the late XVI century its eastern gate was ruined and never restored since then, leaving the Western gate the only one remaining.

The current look of the Ark was practically finalized in September 1920, when the last Bukhara Emir was overthrown and the city was taken by the Red army, led by Mikhail Frunze. A major part of the fortress on the Eastern side was completely destroyed by bombardment, and almost the whole citadel was on fire for four days. What’s left now is just a small piece of the past grandeur.

Today’s Ark is naturally and deservedly one of the major tourist attractions in Bukhara and in the whole Uzbekistan. A big portion of its spectacular wall, about 800 meters long and 20 meters high, is restored to allow us to see how they looked like in their better years. The entrance goes through a spectacular Western gate and then the path leads you through a wide corridor to the Djami mosque and the main terrace with a wide view at Bukhara and from where you can get to all the remaining places in the citadel: a couple of museums, Emir’s quarters and the throne yard, and the office of the prime minister.

You can also persuade one of the local guides, whom you just can’t miss when entering the fortress, to show you the eastern part of the Ark for a very modest extra price. Prepare to pass through a rough terrain, which is now everything what’s left of this part of the citadel, but when you reach the eastern edge of this territory, you will be rewarded by a spectacular panoramic view at Bukhara historical center.