Ark citadel

             Ark of Bukhara

30th may.
Last days of spring. The weather is
 sometimes windy sometimes very hot. But such circumstances do not prevent our practice. 

The main highlight of Bukhara is the Ark fortress. 
For centuries, the Ark remained the main residence of the Emir of Bukhara, the place from where the supreme command of the country was exercised. Here, in the Ark, in addition to the rulers, great scientists, poets and philosophers lived and worked: Rudaki, Firdowsi, Avicenna, Farabi, Omar Khayyam.

Ark rises above the Registan Square - a symbol of greatness, power, impregnability. And, nevertheless, the impression of inviolability was misleading, because the Ark was repeatedly destroyed and then rebuilt again.

The old fortress has seen many bloody wars. In 1220, when the soldiers of Genghis Khan captured Bukhara, the inhabitants of the city took refuge in the Ark, but the soldiers of Genghis Khan, having penetrated into the Ark, killed the defenders, plundered the valuables and destroyed the fortress.

Revolts broke out in the city repeatedly, and then Ark became the embodiment of tough tyranny, cobblestones flew at its gates. Before the revolution, more than 2 thousand people lived in the Ark, until the fortress fell under the blows of the Red Army.

The length of the walls is 789.60 m, the area is 3.96 ha. The height from the level of the Registan Square, near which it is located, ranges from 16 to 20 meters.