Fortifications and ramparts to visit Route de la soie

For more than a thousand years, several palaces were periodically destroyed and rebuilt in the same place. The oldest building still standing is the Ak Sheik Bobo Tower, dating from the 12th century. In the 17th century, Arang Khan, the son of Anusha Khan, built around the ruins of this fortified tower a throne room and the walls protecting the palace from outside and inside the city. But it was under Altuzar Khan, the founder of the Kungrad dynasty at the beginning of the 19th century, that the construction of the present palace began. It included several inner courtyards where the mosque, the guard, the chancellery, the throne room, the mint and the harem were located. The empty space behind the large gates of the palace once included various courtyards. In the first one, the visitors were in the antechamber, in the second one was the guard, then came the chancellery. To the right of this large courtyard is the Summer Mosque (1838). Its immense iwan with six columns and walls covered with blue majolica is of breathtaking beauty: glazed tiles with vegetal arabesques and geometric designs made by renowned 19th century master craftsmen Abdullah and Ibadulla Djinn.

The Mint, located at the end of the inner courtyard, is now transformed into a museum. In the 19th century, working in finance in Khiva had little to do with the life of a golden boy. In order that their knowledge might not disperse, those who minted the coins there were prisoners in the old citadel, and did not come out until after their death. It is in the second inner courtyard, Kurinish Khana, built in 1804, that the khan received his subjects under the shelter of high walls. The throne room itself consists of a long empty room with high ceilings. The silver-leaf veneered wooden throne in the large niche at the back of the room was unfortunately "emigrated" to Russia. Carved and gilded gantch (wood) panels decorate the walls and the ceiling is also richly decorated with polychrome geometric patterns.

The two-column iwan, open to the north to take advantage of the cooler winds during the warmer months, is decorated with majolica in cool colours made with cobalt powder for blue or copper for green. The ceiling, on the other hand, is decorated with warm colours, yellow and red, Zoroastrian symbols of sun and fire. The sun or stars, often symbolized on the ceilings, consecrate the khan as an intermediary between earth and sky, thus God. The wooden doors as well as the columns are entirely carved. Their flared and hollowed base allowed them to be driven onto their marble or wooden base, insulating the wood from the stone with camel's wool, which was said to have anti-seismic properties. Some say that this iwan was the harem, but the women's apartments were actually in the northern part of Kounia Ark. Built at the end of the 19th century by Muhamad Rakhim Khan II, they are unfortunately closed to the public. From the interior of Kounia Ark, a small staircase leads to Ak-Cheikh-Bobo, "the tower of the white sheik", built in the 12th century and so named in memory of the sheik who lived there in the 14th century. At the same time royal residence, guard tower and watchtower, it offers, from its iwan on the upper floor, a panoramic view.

The remains of the imposing citadel (or Arg) in decrepitude, built in the early days of the Mongolian occupation, at the beginning of the XIV century, occupy the location of an ancient mosque disappeared five centuries earlier. The heavy bastion that stands at more than 40 m high, reinforced by two powerful cylindrical towers and pierced with two high doors, retains a certain look. The thickness of the walls (10 m) and the quality of the equipment testify to the mastery of the military art of Mongols in these exposed border cities. A few years ago, it was possible to climb the top of the remains to enjoy the street, but at the moment the citadel was taken in the restoration yard of the nearby Imam Khomeiny mosque. It was even thought of a time to shave, but the population mobilized to save the remains of the city's great past.

The city was fortified from the very beginning. The Ark was a citadel surrounded by high walls, and Shakhrestan, the Inner City, also had its walls. And to protect itself from nomadic attacks, the oasis of Bukhara was surrounded by a wide enclosure of several tens of kilometres. It was consolidated in the 8th century, after the Arab conquest. Like the city, these fortifications were frequently destroyed and rebuilt. At the end of the ninth century, Ismail Samani had the wall surrounding the oasis of Bukhara rebuilt again: "As long as I am alive," he said, "I will be the wall of Bukhara. "During the reign of Abdul Aziz Khan in 1540, the imposing walls that protected the city from the outside world were 12 km long and 11 m high. They had 11 sturdy double doors flanked by turrets that remained closed at night. The walls suffered some clashes during the feudal wars, but protected the city until the Russian conquest. In 1920, the Bolshevik army left only a few kilometres of it, large parts of which can still be seen today in the bazaar district and in the south-west of the city. The best-preserved parts are just north of the Ismail Samani Mausoleum, around the Talipoch Gate, once decorated with gold nails, and one of only two that have survived to the present day. It was here, until the Russians arrived, that the slave market was held, which has since been replaced by the great bazaar Kolkhoznaya.

From the Birket Al-Hajj, the citadel quickly wins. From the outside, nothing leaves the wonderful monument hanging behind its high walls. A deep ditch, a drawbridge bridge and eight massive square towers form defence. Archères are set in machicolated walls and surmounted by round paths. Most of the works date back to the ayyoubide era and are the initiative of Malik al-Adil, the brother of Saladin. Only the semi-circular form has what intrigue.

Past a few dark galleries, the visitor leads to the interior of a perfectly preserved Roman theatre. " A military theatre, certainly more than it needed to excite our archeological curiosity, "noted the French traveller Guillaume Rey in 1854. At that time, the interior was still crowded with a mosque and an arsenal.

After lengthy work that lasted until 1947, which allowed the passage of stands and passages, the theatre finally revived.

So it was its strong conversion, undertaken from the time of omeyyade, which finally allowed it to keep it intact: it is only the theatre of Aspendos (in Turkish territory) that is in such an exceptional state of conservation.

Its construction dates back to the middle of the th century. The three rows of 14, 18 and 5 gradins are perfectly preserved. They allowed for 9 000 spectators. Its diameter of 100 m holds it in the third place of the theatres of Syria, after Apamea and Cyrrhus.

But unlike those two, this theater is not standing on a hill. A complex network of galleries located in the service always allows access to the stands. From the proskenion (stage), where the actors unfold, we walk through a few steps to the orchestra where the choir was held. Behind the proskenion, the décor is treated as a three-storey palace facade. Only the decoration of the first level remains, with its columns to the corinthians capitals. Ultimate refinement, a silk vélum was stretched over the spectators to protect them from the sun's zeal in summer and the fine rain of the winter. The great curtain referred to the public in fine droplets the scented water that was evaporating.

Visible from the road, it trône on the small village of Salkhad. Careful not to take pictures of the summit of the citadel, the proximity of Jordan and Israel prompted the Syrian army to make it a point of observation.

It is likely, given the scarcity of tourists in this remote part of the territory, that one of the gentils guides you in this wonderful site. From the summit, the view of the other volcanoes is sumptuous.

The citadel is perched on the crater of a volcano of which it uses the cone as external defence. Seen as a defence station south of Damascus against cross-progress, its major date, however, in the restoration of the Mameluke sultan Baïbars (1277), whose lion appears in many places. The visit of the rooms requires a torch light. The northern glacis is particularly well preserved. Take a look at the casernements at the foot of the citadel. You'll even read, on inner partitions, graffiti in French. But nothing surprising on the merits, these shelters date from the French mandate.

Flanked by two fountains, this is the famous gate (bab) that inspired the Westerners and whose name is sometimes used to designate the Ottoman Empire. It is said to represent the real entrance to the palace of Topkapı. Built by Mehmed the Conqueror in 1478, it housed the residence of the Grand Vizier. The Sultan could monitor the comings and goings from the Parade kiosk (Alay Köşkü), a balcony located just across the street in the wall of Topkapı. After the proclamation of the Republic, the governor's residence is established here.