BUKHARA: THE PRINCESS OF CITIES - Tourism in Central Asia: Cultural Potential and Challenges - page 76

İstami Qaghan (552-576), the ruler of the Western part of the Göktürk
Khaganate, defeated the Hephtalites in 557. Between the sixth and the
eighth centuries, Göktürks, who were long in a trade with the Sogdians
and lived with them in many regions along the Silk Road, dominated the
whole Turkestan (Taşağıl, 2003). Aside from several monuments, the most
significant gift the Göktürk Qaghans presented to Princess Bukhara was
free trade. Bukhara, for the first time eliminated the intervention of Persia;
thus, developed its trade by offering one hand to the Byzantine Empire,
and the other hand to China. This free trade without paying any taxes to
Persia resulted in great wealth for Bukhara. On account of becoming rich
under the protection of Göktürks, merchants built several palaces the walls
of which were covered with pictures, stucco work, and wooden panels.
Princess Bukhara wore these works of art like a silken ikat. Today, it is
possible to see most of these works in the Hermitage Museum in St. Pe-
tersburg and this breaks the heart of Princess Bukhara.
One of the masterpieces built between the fourth and eighth centuries
and still an interest for art historians today is the Varakhsha Palace , which
is located 30 kilometers north-west of the city Bukhara. Varakhsha Palace
excavated by Shishkin in 1937 was most probably built by a Göktürk Qa-
ghan (Esin, 1987). During these excavations several hills were found. The
hills are an indicator of the existence of a medieval palace with gofras
on its walls between the fifth and the eleventh centuries. The figurative
drawing of the palace by A. Nil'sen (Fig. 12) and the depiction of a medi-
eval palace on a silver plate found in excavations in Mawarannahr region
(Fig. 13) have major similarities. The wall paintings in Varakhsha Palace
were found in four separate rooms. Extensive digs were carried out mainly
in the big hall, the red room, the eastern room, and the western room.
Paintings on the walls of these rooms are 1.80-2.00 meters high (Bel-
enitsky, 1968). Some of the wall paintings are not very well-preserved.
The wall paintings depict a hunting scene (a horseback archer shooting an
arrow backwards is a typical scene in Turkic art), a scene where monsters
(winged tiger, tiger, and leopard) attacking heroes riding on elephants (a
scene thought to be mythological) (Fig. 14), and a ceremony scene of cel-
ebration (Belenitsky, 1968; Frumkin, 1970). The motifs on the clothes of
the people in the wall paintings are parallel to the wall paintings found
in trade centers on Silk Road such as Balalık-Tepe, Panjikent, Afrasiab,
and Kızıl ve Eastern Turkestan. Moreover, even though wall paintings in
Panjikent, Afrasiab, Balalık-Tepe ve Varakhsha are reminiscent of Buddhist