 The
Friday Mosque
At the top of it on the left stands the large 17th-century
Djuma (Friday) mosque, which the emirs used on the Muslim Sabbath. The
pillars are of karagachi, a rare sycamore-like wood. The central carved
wood iwan was added by Alim Khan at the turn of the century.
The Audience Chamber and
Music Pavilion
A stone passage leads south from the mosque to the roofless
17th-century korunishkhana or audience chamber. The emir sat on a marble
throne-made in 1669-in a deep niche on the far side, which his vassals
approached crawling on all fours. They had to face the emir at all times,
and therefore walked backwards when leaving the chamber, turning round
only when hidden by the low wall across the entrance. The wooden pillars
on the north side are from a colonnade which originally shaded three sides
of the chamber.
The only other extant royal preserve is the nagorakhana
(music pavilion) directly above the gatehouse, where the emir's orchestra
played makoms by which people in the Reg-istan below could tell the time
of day. The royal family gathered here to watch public festivities and
executions.
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