The gate was at northeastern wall of the citadel and consisted of a double-leaf wooden door. Coordinates: 43˚17.912΄, 068˚16.376΄. The gate doors were decorated with ornamental carvings, and on both sides located towers. Spiral staircases led up to the towers, by providing access to the fortress walls. Similar to the fortress wall, the upper part of the gate featured embrasures and seven battlements. Until the 19th century, the gate existed as a double-leaf door without towers. It was rebuilt in its current form between 1843 and 1849. The towers on the either side and the leaves of the gate were constructed of rectangular (oval-shaped) bricks, while the arch above the gate was made of square bricks. The bricks were bonded with a mixture of limewater, sand, and clay, and the bricks of the arch were reinforced with gypsum. On the map of Turkistan compiled in the late 17th – early 18th centuries and known in scholarship as the “Messerschmidt Map”, this gate was not shown. At that time, the fortress was surrounded by a lake; in the southeastern part of the city were located three gates, and another three in the northwestern part. Among them, can be identified the gate “Musalla” in the southeast and the gate “Darbaza” in northwest. At that time, special fortress walls surrounding the citadel, nor gates within them were not existed. Originally, the gate made through the fortress wall built in the 18th century. Later, between 1843 and 1849, when the Kokand rulers constructed a new fortress wall around the citadel, the gate was completely rebuilt with fired brick.
According to the results of archaeological excavations carried out between 1979 and 1984 on the eastern side of the fortress wall, the gate was in the style of late medieval architecture. In 1979–1980 was performed restoration works.
Литература:
- Свод памятников истории и культуры Казахстана, Южно-Казахстанская область. А., 1994. –С. 277. №590.5.
- Цитадель қақпасы. // «Әзірет Сұлтан» энциклопедиясы., І-том. Астана, 2023. 203 б.
- Цитадель қақпасы // «Түркістан энциклопедиясы». Астана, 2023. 203б.
