Ark of Bukhara: the fortress of the emirs
The Ark of Bukhara (or the Ark Fortress) is a huge mud-brick fortress that served as the residence of the khans and emirs of Bukhara. It is a stronghold of power that still stands as the main attraction of the city and is its oldest structure. A fortress has stood on this spot since at least the 4th–3rd century BC, and the Ark has been the rulers’ residence since about the 5th century AD. Its walls run for about 790 m and rise 16–20 m above the square, enclosing about 4 ha. Much of the interior is still not excavated or restored, and new parts will hopefully open to the public later.
Today it is a symbol and the heart of Bukhara and has been the stage of major events in the history of the city. The citadel was home not only to the ruler but also to poets, scientists and philosophers, forming a town inside the town. It has endured many wars and has absorbed bits and pieces of the entire history of Central Asia.
Tours visiting the Ark of Bukhara
The tours below all include the Ark, usually as part of a full guided day in Bukhara.
Four Stan Tour through Central Asia
Discover the legendary Silk Road on this 18-day small-group tour through Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and…
Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan Silk Road Cities Tour
The Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan Silk Road Cities Tour is a 10- or 12-day journey following the legendary routes that…
Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan tour
This 15-day tour combines the mountain lakes and nomad life of Kyrgyzstan with the great Silk Road cities of…
Uzbekistan Group tour from Khiva to Tashkent
Follow the Silk Road across Uzbekistan by train on this 7-day group tour from the walled city of Khiva to the capital…
Silk Road Oasis Tour
Travel the whole Silk Road of Uzbekistan in 11 days, from Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva to the desert…
Uzbekistan handicraft tour
Meet Uzbekistan's master craftsmen on a 10-day journey through the Fergana Valley, Khiva, Bukhara and Samarkand. For…
Visiting the Ark
The ticket for foreign visitors is 60,000 som (official price since January 2025). The Ark is open every day, about 9:00–18:00 and longer in the main season. Photographing the exhibits costs about 30,000 som extra, and an official guide in a foreign language 120,000 som. There is little shade inside, so come in the early morning or late afternoon, and walk around the walls in the evening light. The Zindan prison behind the Ark has its own ticket.
What is inside
- the Juma (Friday) Mosque with its carved columns, now a small exhibition of calligraphy and early Korans
- the quarters of the kushbegi (prime minister), now an archaeology museum with finds from Paykend, Varakhsha and Romitan
- the Reception and Coronation Court with its marble throne, where the last emir, Alim Khan, was crowned in 1910
- the history museum with the emirs’ robes and photographs of the Ark when it was still lived in
- the dark entrance corridor through the western gate, lined with cells
Bukhara Registan
You should start your visit to Ark from the vast main square of Registan, outside what is now the Ark’s main gate. Historically it served as both a slave market and public execution ground, though now it lies empty and as a safe, car free area for tourists and locals to walk around. There are more sights waiting for you west from Registan hidden in the several parks just a short walk away.
History of Ark of Bukhara
According to the archaeologists, Ark of Bukhara was built sometime between the 5th and 6th centuries AD. The Ark’s original rectangular structure included a palace, administrative areas, guardrooms, and a Zoroastrian fire temple. It became the center which the town of Bukhara was built around with the main functions of the town taking place within its old walls for defense purposes. Arabs built the first-ever Bukharan mosque here in 713 on the smoldering ashes of a Zoroastrian temple, to support physically and metaphorically the power of Islam over other faiths and their adherents.
Samanids and Karakhanids fortified the ark from the ninth to the 12th centuries with a series of ramparts. The Karakhitai and Khorezmshah destroyed and rebuilt it three times and finally, rather predictably, the Mongols crushed it in 1220. The Ark eventually began to take its present form in the 16th century under the Uzbek Shaybanids and all its present structures date from the last three centuries. A mosque, greeting hall, harem, music pavilion, jewelry workshop, clothing warehouses, treasuries and more were built.
In the 17th century, the emir’s throne room “Kurinishkona” was added, with a brick-paved courtyard that surrounded it on three sides by platforms supported by wooden columns. In 1753, the Uzbek Mangyt Muhammad-Rakhim tribe captured the throne, procuring the title of emir.
By this time, the Ark had grown to house not only the emir, his family and retinue, but also the whole range of government accessories, in a complex of over 3000 inhabitants, including a palace, harem, throne room, reception hall, office block, treasury, mosque, gold mint, dungeon and the slave quarters.
The Bukhara Khanate thus began to be called the Bukhara Emirate. Eight emirs of the Mangyt Dynasty ruled successively until 1920 when the Red Army invaded the city and annexed it to Russia. Throughout the Russian Civil War, the Ark was greatly destroyed by Red Army troops under the command of Mikhail Frunze. Frunze ordered the Ark bombed by aircraft, which left a large part of the structure in ruins.
There is also a belief that the last Emir, Alim Khan, (1880–1944), who escaped to Afghanistan with the royal treasury, ordered the Ark to be blown up so that its secret places, particularly the harem could not be desecrated by the Bolsheviks. Whatever survived soon became a natural target for waves of Soviet propaganda campaigns and was finally weakened and pacified into the town’s main history museum and archive.
Hidden behind the cluster of restored museum buildings, still lie the heart and bones of the Ark and it seems that it will take a long effort to restore all of it. Thankfully, the front part of the Ark has already been restored and reopened to the public and there is an ongoing renovation project that will bring back to life other parts of the site as well, one section at a time.
What to see in the Bukhara Ark
Climbing the steep stone ramp and passing through the gateway brings you inside the Ark. There is a certain sense of shades of former glory, though as the renovation program continues and as more areas are restored and opened to the public, you should get a better picture of what life inside the citadel was like.
Bukhara Ark Western Gate
Access to the Ark goes through the Western Gate through an impressive entrance way built by Nadir Shah in 1742. The second, southern or Kalyon Gate has long-since been destroyed. There are two major items that once hung from this gateway. First one was a “khamcha” (six-stranded whip) to remind the people of the emir’s power and the second one a mechanical clock made by an Italian clockmaker, Giovanni Orlandi, who was captured by Turkmen slave traders in Orenburg, Russia in the mid 19th century. Orlandi earned himself a stay by offering to make the clock (at the time the only mechanical clock in Bukhara) for Nasrullah Khan but once it was completed, Orlandi was caught drunk and this gave Nasrullah the excuse he wanted to sentence the Italian to death. The skin on his neck was sliced off, and he was then beheaded.
Bukhara Ark archaeological Museum
The “Elchi Khana” administrative building is today the Regional Archeological Museum. The museum displays findings from the entire existence of settlements at this place. Moreover, the exhibition is constantly being replenished as excavations are being carried out in our time.
Bukhara Ark Throne Room
The “Kurinesh Khana” throne room, where the emirs were crowned and lifted onto their new throne whilst sitting on a silk carpet.
Reception and Coronation Court
The oldest preserved part of the Ark, the large Reception and Coronation Court. Its roof fell in during the 1920 bombardment. Coronations were held here until the 20th century when Alim Khan was coronated in 1910.
Bukhara Ark Local History Museum
Local History Museum has some fine royal clothes, including the emir’s coronation robes and an accompanying 20 m long turban and illuminating photographs of the Ark when it was still inhabited.
The Bukhara Ark Court Mosque
The Mosque now houses a small exhibition of calligraphy holding early Khorans and illuminated works of poetry. It includes the records from Navoi and Jami’s divan poetry and two pages from a Koran dating back to the 10th century. The court mosque with ornately sculpted pillars and a bright “mihrab” lies at the top of the walkway.
Zindan, the Emir's Prison in Bukhara Ark
The Zindan is the notorious 19th-century prison of the emirs, hidden behind the Ark next to the former Shakhristan Gate, northeast of the Ark. The prison was built in the 18th century. Zindan comes from Persian and means “prison”, “dungeon” or “a hole for prisoners”.
The large, dark building held murderers, political prisoners, courtiers fallen from grace and 19th-century European visitors in three cells. The most infamous was the bug pit, about 6.5 m deep and covered with an iron grill, into which prisoners were lowered by rope. The British officers Stoddart and Conolly were held here before their execution in 1842. The English missionary Henry Lansdell was shown around the jail in 1882 and saw how the prisoners, chained at the neck, went largely unfed; those whose families were too poor to bribe the jailers had to beg for food every Friday through an outer grating. The prison itself looked like a small fortress, with brick outer walls and stairs leading up to an arched entrance, and it held no more than 40 people.
Today the Zindan is a museum of the justice system of the Bukhara emirate, with an exhibition in one of the former cells. The ticket for foreign visitors is 20,000 som.
Shukhov Tower next to Bukhara Ark Fortress
The Shukhov Tower stands 33 m high opposite the gate of the Ark, on the other side of the road from the Registan. It was built as a water tower in 1927–29 by the engineer and architect Vladimir Shukhov, a key figure of the Soviet industrial leap and the inventor of the hyperboloid structure of which the tower is a shining example. About 200 water towers of this type were built across the country at the time.
Only a few remain, but enough of them to make Uzbekistan a rich hunting ground for Shukhov fans. The tower lost its original function and stood unused for years; in 1975 the wooden water tank burned down, but for once the Soviet heritage was kept instead of being torn down. Today a glass lift takes visitors up to a viewing platform with cafés and a restaurant, with views over the Ark and the rest of the old town.
Sights near Ark of Bukhara
Written by Anssi Karppinen, Central Asia Guide · Page updated