Day 7.

 Day 7.

Hello everybody🙋🙋🙋

Today I want to introduce you to the seventh day 

of our practice. We gathered today at 11:00 at the 

Ark Museum. Then we went to that famous 

dungeon with our teacher. Our destination today 

will be a dungeon. the dungeon seems simple at 

first glance, but once inside it's a bit scary.

There are two historical monuments standing on 

a hill in the city of Bukhara. One is Ark Castle. The 

second is the emir's prison. The dungeon, built in 

the 18th century, was used until the time of Amir 

Olimkhan, the last representative of the Mangit 

dynasty. at the same time, the Museum of the 

History of Law and Legislation in Bukhara is 

located here.

"It is known from history that the emirate 

occupied a very large territory," says Ahadjon 

Ganiyev, the director of this museum. - But there 

were not many cases of crime. according to the 

sources, 84 prisoners were kept in the prison in 

1911. Amir Olimkhan pardoned 70 of them on his 

accession to the throne this year and ordered to 

reduce the wheat tax to one coin.

Among the exhibits in the museum is an image of 

a dungeon taken by French photographer Paul 

Nadar in 1890. In 1896, the Danish tourist Orde 

took pictures of mirshabs doing their duty in the 

prison. 32 mirshab guarded the dungeon every 

three days. a lighter stone was pressed under the 

feet. Mirshablar got a nail under his shoe. When 

they were walking, they hit a rough stone and 

made a terrible sound. This meant to the 

prisoners, "Don't even think about running away, 

we are here."

The prison had separate rooms for two categories 

of debtors. Fraudsters and thugs who took loans 

from people and did not pay them back on time 

were kept in one, and tax debtors were kept in the 

other.

"The place of the dungeon, which is called 

"Kanakhana" in the vernacular, really struck fear 

into people's hearts," says A. Ganiev was leading 

us in that direction. — In this place, which is 6.5 

meters deep and 5.5 meters in diameter, 

sometimes reminiscent of a well, people who 

commit polytheism, that is, people who 

committed bad deeds, assassinated people, and 

political prisoners were kept.

The wall of the "Kanakhana" is five meters thick. 

It was unlikely that the prisoners who were 

thrown there would survive. Although there was 

a hole on the top for sunlight to enter, the filth 

and humidity inside finished the criminal. and in 

other places, we know that there are many blood-

thirsty insects such as ticks and fleas.

Undoubtedly, the dungeon is a structure with a 

unique architectural solution. A person who 

comes to this corner, where the breath of the past 

is blowing, realizes that life is very short and that 

a person needs to do only good deeds during this 

time. Hurlik feels what a priceless gift freedom is. 

because the prison is warning everyone about the 

whereabouts of the accused, a bribe-giver, a 

fraudster, a thief. 

In 1842, the British soldiers Connolly and 

Stoddart were executed in front of the Ark 

Fortress in Bukhara. It was the grim finale to 

years of torture in the Zindon prison located 

within the fortress. However, the most famous 

resident of Zindon was not a person, but a place: 

“the Bug Pit,” a four meter deep hole, accessible 

only by rope. This bleak pit is where Connolly and 

Stoddart spent their time in Zindon, while guards 

poured scorpions, bugs, and rodents onto their 

heads.

Stoddart suffered three years in the prison more 

than one of which he whiled away in the Bug Pit - 

before Conolly was thrown down to join him; 

ironically, Conolly had the unfortunate fate of being 

sent to Bukhara to release Stoddart. They spent a 

year together in the Bug Pit, before the Emir finally 

had them executed.

The soldiers were victims of what can only be 

described as extreme blunders of sociopolitical 

etiquette. Stoddart was tasked with delivering a letter

 of reassurance to the Emir of Bukhara, stating that 

the British had no intention of continuing their 

invasion of Afghanistan into his kingdom. However, 

Stoddart had ridden into the castle on horseback 

rather than walking, and arrived without a gift for 

Nasrullah Khan, the Emir and an extremely brutal 

figure. Nicknamed “The Butcher,” Nasrullah was 

outraged at these indignities, and viewed the British 

Empire as a weakened nation after their defeat in 

Afghanistan.  Regarding the two Brits as worthless, 

he had them jailed, tortured, and executed. The 

British Empire did not respond.

Today, the Bug Pit is but one of many gruesome 

places in the Zindon prison, in which mannequins 

eerily portray the conditions of imprisonment. Much 

of the rest of the enormous Ark fortress was 

destroyed by the Red Army’s invasion in 1920, 

there by putting an end to continual inhabitation of 

the fortress for more than 1,400 years.

Some of those who were thrown into prison have 

served time. Their graves are also placed there.

 

From this video you can get some information about

Bukhara State Art Museum Reserve.

And that's how our practice lesson ended today. I 

think it was really great. 

Thank you for your attention!!!