POLISH DARVOZA

«Giant doors», or eastern doors built between 1806 and 1835, are the oldest in the city. A vaulted passage to 6 domes leads to the old town. Left of the gates, facing Ichan kala, was the slave market. In a retreat, in the niches on each side of the corridor, the slaves who had tried to escape were chained while waiting for a fatal fate: it was in front of the market that the convicts were beaten or killed from 1840.