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Varakhsha

Ruins of a pre-Islamic palace town on the edge of the desert west of Bukhara, once the seat of the local rulers; its wall paintings are now in museums.

ArchaeologyUNESCO World HeritageAbout 1 hour to see

About the place

Before the Arab conquest, the Bukhara oasis was ruled by kings known as the Bukhar-khudats, and Varakhsha was one of their residences. Excavations in the 20th century uncovered a palace whose halls were painted with hunting scenes, animals and processions, and decorated with carved plaster. Those paintings were removed for safekeeping and are now shown in museums, including the Hermitage in St Petersburg.

What you see on site today are large eroded mounds of mud brick on the edge of the sand, with the outlines of walls and rooms. It is a place for people interested in archaeology and in landscape rather than in decoration, and there are no facilities nearby.

Sources (1)

  1. 1.Wikidata

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