Ark fortress

The Ark fortress was built in the 5th century in the north-western part of Bukhara on a 20-meter above sea level.

An ancient legend claims a young man whose name Siyavush built Ark for his bride. The father of his beloved was the ruler Turan Fraghisag. The father did not want to give his beloved daughter for Siyavush. He gave him a task and thought that he would not fulfill it. My father ordered to build a castle on the skin of a bull. The quick-witted young man made many strips of bovine skin, connected them along the perimeter, inside which he built Ark. The father had no choice but to give his daughter to the inventive Siyavush as a wife.

This citadel covers an area of ​​over 4 hectares. In the 19th century, a little more than three thousand people lived here. Inside the citadel, a palace was built in which the ruler lived, next to the palace there were palace services, then the servants' houses, a mosque, workshops, various warehouses and an arsenal.

Was it considered unapproachable? Not at all ... It was destroyed and rebuilt many times. Historians claim that the sages gave advice to the ruler of Bukhara Bidun Bukhar Khudot: the fortress should stand on seven pillars and these pillars must be located in the same way as the stars of the Big Dipper are located. It is difficult to argue how much more believable this is than the legend about Siyavush, but during excavations at a depth of 20 meters, archaeologists discovered buildings dated to the beginning of our era.

In the Middle Ages, such celebrities as Avicena, Ferdowsi, Rudaka, Omar Khayyam lived and worked in the Ark fortress. Now the fortress buildings are occupied by souvenir shops, museums and exhibition halls. Currently, there is the Bukhara State Architecture and Art Museum-Reserve.