Varahsha

Викичи · CC BY-SA 4.0

Викичи · CC BY-SA 4.0

Пугаченкова Г. А., Ремпель Л. И · Public domain

Varakhsha, also Varasha or Varahsha, was an ancient city in the Bukhara oasis in Sogdia, founded in the 1st century BCE. It is located 39 kilometers to the northwest of Bukhara. Varakhsha was the capital of the Sogdian dynasty of the kings of Bukhara, the Bukhar Khudahs. It ultimately never recovered from the Muslim conquest of Transoxiana. After British archaeologists began investigating the site in the 1820s, it became "the very first Sogdian archaeological site mentioned in European literature."

Murals

Murals dating from the 8th century CE have been recovered from the palace area. They show a king and his retinue riding elephants and fighting tigers and monstrous beasts.

Key facts

Type
archaeological site
Part of
list of World Heritage Sites in Northern and Central Asia
Heritage status
Tentative World Heritage Site

Facts from Wikidata.

Loading...
Coordinates: 39.862927, 64.073183Open in Google Maps

Tags

Sources

The text on this page comes from: Varakhsha (en.wikipedia.org), as of 24 July 2026

Text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.