Content of Bukhara History

From the history of the city
Fortifications
The Ark citadel and Registan
Western Section of the modern city
The city and the epoch
Trade cross-roads
Kosh-Medresseh. A Dialogue of the epoch
Subterranean and other mosques
In the eastern part of the city
Suburban Ensembles
In the Bukhara Oasis

Fortifications

And so, the first monument in Bukhara are its fortified walls and gates. A section of the city wall with huge breaches in the brickwork constitutes a unique monument of Uzbekistan´s fortification architecture. It is also an important element in the historical topography of the city, one that is closely associated with he history of Bukhara. Narshakhi, the tenth-century author of "History of Bukhara" wrote that the first walls around the shakhristan in Bukhara had been built in the eighth century, under the rule of the Tahirids, the Arab governor-generals. The territory of the prospering city grew and in 849-850 A.D. new walls were erected to encompass the Ark citadel and shakhristan. Towards the twelfth century, under the rule of Arslan-khan og the Karakhanid dynasty, thewalls were reinforned by adobe clay fortifications (1102-1130). Another wall og baked brick was built around Bukhara in 1164-1165 under Ma´sud Klich Tamgach-khan. Both ramparts had to be restored in 1207-1208 under Khorezmshakh Muhamed. However, in 1220 they were destroyed during the invasion of the Mongol hordes under Ghenggghiz-khan.

There followed the period of stagnation and the territory of Bukhara shrank. There are ancient manuscripts and surviving monuments to testify to the city´s revival towards the middle of the thirteenth century. That period saw the construction of Masudiye and Khaniye - two large medresseh . Al-Bakuvi (a fifteenth-century author) reports on two fortification rings around Bukhara : the external one embracing a total area of 72 by 72 km and the internal one circling the Ark citadel on an area of 1 by 1 km. The author stresses the point : "...and within this space there is not a single plot of waste land or ruined building."

The next ring of fortifications surrounded the suburbs in the period of 1540 to 1549 under Abd al-Aziz-khan the First. Today, in the south-western section of the city, close to the Ark citadel, one can still see the majestic bulk of the Mediaeval walls at the foot of which sprawls a recreation park. The dilapidated ramparts are made of packed clay and adobe brick. In the late feudal period , the military value of the walls were lost and they served only for policing purposes - at night the city gates were locked to outsiders.

The remnants of Mediaeval fortifications in Bukhara testify to their impregnability and they were intended for the city´s defence during endless feudal wars. They were semi-circular buttresses spaced along the external side of the wall with baked brickwork city gates forming part of the pattern. The packed clay core of the wall was lined with adobe brick and the massive base of the structure insured its stability. The weather-worn crest of the wall still displays traces merlons and embrasures behind which runs a firing gallery. The wall rests on a sand pad and rubblework. The existing section of the wall is about 4 km long and it rises 11 metres.

Researchers have been able to identify the names of eleven of the city gates (five of which were located in the surviving section of the wall). What has remained are the sixteenth-century Talipach gates in the north, the Karakul gates in the south-west.The Sheikh Djalal gates in the south have disappeared only recently. Both the Talipach and Karakul gates are built into the wall as portals with an arched entrance and powerful towers on both sides crowned with merlons.The Talipach gates also have guard premises behind them.The Sheikh Djalal gates had roofed galleries lining the entrance corridor where customs examinations were carried out.