Sitorai Mohi-Hosa: the summer palace of the emirs

The name is usually translated as “palace of the moon and stars” or “star-like and moon-like”. According to tradition, the site was chosen because it was cooler than the city: a sheep carcass was hung in different places around Bukhara, and here it stayed fresh longest.

A first palace was built in the 19th century under Emir Nasrullah. The present buildings date from the early 20th century. Emir Abdulahad Khan, who had travelled to St Petersburg, began to rebuild it, and his son Alim Khan, the last emir, completed the main palace in the 1910s. Alim Khan had studied in Russia and sent Bukharan craftsmen to Russian cities to learn new techniques, and the palace was designed to combine their skills with European architecture. Russian engineers worked on the structure, while Bukharan masters, among them the celebrated ganch carver Usto Shirin Muradov, created the interior decoration.

In 1920 Alim Khan fled to Afghanistan, and the palace, like the Ark, passed to the Soviet state. It became a museum in the 1920s.

The result is eclectic: Russian classical facades, Bukharan carved wooden columns and painted ceilings, European furniture and chandeliers, Chinese and Japanese porcelain, and Bukharan ganch (carved alabaster) work of the highest quality.

The highlight is the White Hall, a reception room whose walls are covered in carved white ganch set over mirror glass, so that the patterns glitter in the light of the chandeliers. It took several years to complete and is considered a masterpiece of 20th-century Bukharan decorative art. Other rooms include a reception hall, a dining room with porcelain and a tea room. Many contain original furniture and gifts presented to the emirs, including vases from China and Japan and furniture from Russia.

Several buildings in the palace grounds house exhibitions of applied arts: Bukharan suzani and embroidery, costumes worn at court, jewellery and ceramics. The suzani collection is one of the best in Uzbekistan and gives an excellent idea of the variety of embroidery styles before you shop for textiles in the trading domes.

Behind the palace is a garden with a large rectangular pool surrounded by a pavilion. According to a popular story, the emir would watch his harem bathing from the pavilion and throw an apple to the woman he had chosen for the night. Whether true or not, the story is told to every visitor. The harem building now houses part of the textile exhibition.

The gardens contain fruit trees, flowerbeds and, often, peacocks strutting around the grounds. In spring and summer it is a pleasant, shady place, a contrast to the heat and stone of the old city.

Location: about 4 km north of the old city, on the road towards the Bahauddin Naqshband complex.

Getting there: by taxi (around 15 minutes) or on a city minibus. It combines well with a half-day trip to the Bahauddin Naqshband complex and the Chor-Bakr necropolis, both outside the city; a car with a driver for the half day is the easiest option.

Tickets: an entrance fee covers the palace and exhibitions; photography may cost extra.

Time needed: 1–1.5 hours on site.

Tips: go in the morning, when the gardens are cool. The interior rooms are not large, so it can feel crowded when groups arrive together.