Ensembles6 km away
Abdi Berun Ensemble
A 17th-century memorial complex with a pool and domed khanaka over the grave of the judge Khoja Abdi, outside Samarkand's old southern wall.
Kafir-Kala (Samarkand)
Ruins of an early medieval mud-brick citadel with a moat on the Dargom river, 12 km south of Samarkand, where a carved wooden gate was found in 2017.
ArchaeologyFrom the 4th–5th centuryAbout 45 minutes to see
About the place
Kafir-Kala guarded the southern edge of the Samarkand oasis beside the Dargom river. Its core is a square mud-brick citadel about 75 metres a side with six towers, surrounded by a moat you can still see; houses stood outside the walls. It was first occupied in the fourth or fifth century by the Kidarites, and its coins trace the change from Sogdian to Islamic rule.
In 2017 archaeologists found a charred wooden door in the throne room, carved with worshippers honouring the goddess Nana seated on a lion throne. What you see today are earthen walls and the outline of the moat.
Why go
- Moated citadel with six towers
- Carved wooden gate showing the goddess Nana
- Coins that trace the arrival of Islam in Samarkand
Sources (5)
Nearby
- Ensembles
Ensembles8 km away
Khoja Ahrar Complex
The shrine of the 15th-century Sufi leader Khoja Ahrar on Samarkand's southern edge, with a madrasa and mosque built in the 1630s.
Ensembles8 km awayUNESCO World Heritage
Abdi Darun
A small shrine complex around the grave of a medieval jurist, with a mosque, a pool and old plane trees in a quiet neighbourhood.
Mausoleums8 km awayUNESCO World Heritage
Ishratkhona Mausoleum
A roofless fifteenth-century Timurid mausoleum in the east of the old city, where women and children of the dynasty were buried.