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The
capital, Tashkent, Uzbek
Toshkent, capital of Uzbekistan and the largest city in Central Asia.
Tashkent lies in the northeastern part of Uzbekistan. It is situated at an
elevation of 1,475-1,575 feet (450-480 m) in the Chirchiq River valley west
of the Chatkal Mountains and is intersected by a series of canals from the
Chirchiq River. The city probably dates from the 2nd or the 1st century BC
and was variously known as Dzhadzh, Chachkent, Shashkent, and Binkent; the
name Tashkent, which means "stone village" in Uzbek, was first
mentioned in the 11th century.
Tashkent has always been an important international transport junction.
Unfortunately, it preserves only a small proportion of its architectural
past. A massive earthquake in 1966 flattened much of the old city and it
was rebuilt with broad, tree-lined streets and the new buildings are of
little architectural interest. The earlier buildings lie in the old town to
the west of the center. A myriad of narrow winding alleys, it stands in
stark contrast to the more modern Tashkent. Of interest among the
interesting older buildings are the 16th-century Kukeldash Madras, which is
being restored as a museum, and the Kaffali-Shash Mausoleum. Many of the
Islamic sites in Tashkent are not open to non-Muslims, and visitors should
always ask permission before entering a mosque or other religious building.
An important center of trade and handicrafts on the caravan routes to
Europe and the Orient, the city was conquered by the Arabs at the beginning
of the 8th century and later became part of the possessions of various
Muslim ruling lines before falling to the Mongols in the early 13th
century. It was subsequently ruled by the Timurids and Shaybanids and then
led an independent existence before being annexed by the Khanate of Kokand
in 1809. When it was captured by the Russians in 1865, it was a walled city
of some 70,000 inhabitants and already a leading center of trade with
Russia. In 1867 it was made the administrative center of the new
governorate-general of Turkistan, and a new European city grew up beside
the old native one. Soviet rule was established by Russian colonists in
November 1917 after an armed uprising. Tashkent remained the capital of the
new republic of Turkistan in the U.S.S.R., but when the latter was split in
1924, Samarkand became the first capital of the republic of Uzbekistan,
U.S.S.R. The capital was transferred to Tashkent in 1930.
Today Tashkent is the main economic and cultural center of Central Asia.
The city's numerous institutions of higher education and research
establishments include the university, founded in 1920, and various
institutes of the Uzbek Academy of Sciences, set up in 1943. Another
notable institution is the Navoi Public Library. The city's numerous
theatres, Uzbek and Russian, include the Navoi Theatre of Opera and Ballet.
The city has been extensively rebuilt since an earthquake in 1966 left
300,000 people homeless. A few 15th- and 16th-century religious buildings
and mausoleums survive, including the Barakkhan Madrasah (theological
school). Uzbeks and Russians comprise nearly four-fifths of the population,
with minorities of Tatars, Jews, and Ukrainians. Pop. (1991 est.)
2,113,300.
Tashkent houses many museums of Uzbek and pre-Uzbek culture. These include
the State Art Museum, which houses a collection of paintings, ceramics and
the Bukharan royal robes. The Museum of Decorative and Applied Arts
exhibits embroidered wall hangings and reproduction antique jewellery. As
important historical figures, such as Amir Timur - better known as
Tamerlane in the West - are being given greater prominence, the exhibits
and perspective of the museums are also changing.
Samarkand is the site of
Alexander the Great's slaying of his friend Cleitos, the pivot of the Silk
Road and the city transformed by Timur in the 14th century into one of the
world's greatest capitals. Founded over 5000 years ago, the city flourished
until the 16th century before the sea routes to China and the rest of the
East diminished its importance as a trading center. Much of its past glory
survives or has been restored. The center of the historical town is the
Registan Square, where three huge madrasas (Islamic seminaries) - including
Shir-Dor and Tillya-Kari - built between the 15th and 17th centuries,
dominate the area. Decorated with blue tiles and intricate mosaics, they
give some idea of the grandeur that marked Samarkand in its heyday.
The Bibi Khanym Mosque, not far from the Registan, is testimony to Timur's
love for his wife. Now it is a pale shadow of its former self and
permanently under repair, but it is still possible to see the breadth of
vision of the man who conquered so much of central and south Asia. Timur
himself is buried in the Gur Emir. On the ground floor, under the massive
cupola, lie the ceremonial graves of Timur and his descendants. The stone
that commemorates Timur is reputed to be the largest chunk of Nephrite
(jade) in the world. The actual bodies are situated in the basement, which
unfortunately is not open to the public.
The Shah-i-Zinda is a collection of the graves of some of Samarkand's
dignitaries. The oldest date from the 14th century as Samarkand was
starting to recover from the depredations of the Mongol hordes of the 13th
century.
Other sites of interest in Samarkand include the Observatory of Ulug Beg,
Timur's grandson, which was the most advanced astronomical observatory of
its day. There is also the Afrasiab Museum, not far from the observatory, containing
a frieze dating from the 6th century which shows a train of gifts for the
Sogdian ruler of the day.
Bukhara lies west of Samarkand
and was once a center of learning renowned throughout the Islamic world. It
was here that the great Sheikh Bahautdin Nakshbandi lived. He was a central
figure in the development of the mystical Sufi approach to philosophy,
religion and Islam. In Bukhara there are more than 350 mosques and 100
religious colleges. Its fortunes waxed and waned through succeeding empires
until it became one of the great Central Asian Khanates in the 17th
century.
The center of historical Bukhara is the Shakristan, which contains the Ark,
or palace complex of the Emirs. Much of this was destroyed by fire in the
1920s, but the surviving gatehouse gives an impression of what the whole
must have been like. Near the gatehouse is the Zindan or jail of the Emirs,
which has a display of some of the torture methods employed by the Emirs
against their enemies.
Not far from the Ark, the 47m-high Kalyan Minaret, or tower of death, was
built in 1127 and, with the Ishmael Samani Mausoleum, is almost the only
structure to have survived the Mongols. It was from here that convicted
criminals were thrown to their deaths.
Other sites of interest in Bukhara include the Kalyan Mosque, which is open
to non-Muslims, the Ulug Beg Madras - the oldest in Central Asia - and,
opposite, the Abdul Aziz Madras. Bukhara, with the narrow, twisting
alleyways of its old quarter, is full of architectural gems. Khiva, north-east
of Bukhara, is near the modern and uninteresting city of Urgench.
Khiva is younger and better
preserved than either Samarkand or Bukhara. The city still lies within the
original city walls, and has changed little since the 18th century. Part of
its attraction is its completeness; although it has been turned into a
museum town and is hardly inhabited, it is possible to imagine what it was
like in its prime when it was a market for captured Russian and Persian
slaves.
Shakhrisabz is another famous
city, which dates back to golden age of Tamerlan (Amir Timur). This is the
motherland of Amir Timur. By order of Timur the town was surrounded with
high walls, the town gates were equipped with drawbridges. The grand
Ak-Sarai Palace was built in the northern part of the town and Dorus-Siadat
Mausoleum was erected in the south-eastern part of the town. Gumbazi
Seyyidan Mausoleum and Kok-Gumbaz mosque were built during the reign of
Ulugbek.
The Art Gallery in Nukus, the
capital of Karakalpakstan, in the west of the country, has the best
collection of Russian avant-garde art outside St Petersburg.
The Chatkalsky Reserve in the
western Tien-Shan is a narrow unspoilt gorge and contains snow tigers, the
rare Tien-Shan grey bear and the Berkut eagle.
The Chimgan mountains - a unique corner of the western part of
Tien-Shan has become famous for its beauty all the four seasons of the year
and for its high level skiing facilities. This is the place where everyone
who loves fast and dangerous skiing can find everything they need to have a
real good time. Many people gather here in the winter to spend their
holidays and weekends. Comfortable hotels, camping, restaurants, rental
service of skis and other skiing equipment, everything here is ready to
provide tourists with high quality service. It takes an hour or more to get
here from Tashkent.
In 629-645 AD a Buddhist pilgrim Xuan-Zang visited Central Asia on his way
from China to India. His description of this rich and fascinating land
impressed his contemporaries. A flourishing country Sogda and its capital
Samarkand, a walled city - Termez with 12 Buddhist temples and more than
1000 monks, caravanserais and camelcades laden with exotic goods from
different parts of the world - everything and everywhere has a sign of
abundance.
So far several Buddhist historical places has been discovered in
Uzbekistan. Among them - Kara-Tepe, Fayaz-Tepe and Dalverzin-Tepe in the
surroundings of Termez are the most attractive for the visitors owing to
their sensational discoveries such as statues of Buddha which date back to
the 3rd century AD, the brick stupa which dates back to the 1st century ??,
the sixteen meter high Zurmala Tower - the remnant of the largest Buddhist
stupa in the area and possibly the oldest construction still standing in
Uzbekistan, series of murals depicting various adorants in Kushan dress,
fragments of pottery containing Brahmi, Punjabi, Kharoshti and Bactrian
scripts and other Buddhist relics.
Tales of exotic Tashkent, of the glittering court of Samarkand, of the
violent history of Khiva, and of the lure of the caravanserai have set many
an imagination on fire over the centuries. Yet, while they were hidden for
so long behind the bland face of the Soviet Union, almost nothing has been
heard in the West of the fabled cities of the heartland of Central Asia and
their intriguing stories
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