Gissar - between the collective farm and the city. CA-NEWS: Life in Central Asia: From Samarkand to Uzgen - the region's most ancient cities
Ten years ago, artifacts were stolen from the historical museum of the Hissar fortress. The crime has not yet been solved...
We did not manage to get official comments in the DMIA of the city of Gissar regarding the theft of a decade ago, which remained “hanging” (as they say in law enforcement agencies about an unsolved case). Then, for details, we turned to the director of the Hissar Historical and Cultural Reserve, Zikrullo Jobirov.
Talking about the details of the kidnapping, Jobirov noted that the theft took place ten years ago, on the night of Sunday, October 15, 2006.
Zikrullo Jobirov: “We hope that the case will still be solved”
It was the last decade of Ramadan 2006. I was at home. On weekends, to receive visitors, the duty of responsible employees of the museum was organized, which is located in the building of the old madrasah, where most of the monuments (more than 3200 copies) found during excavations carried out on the territory of Gissar and beyond, as well as collected from other sources and historical sites. Shakhlo Ostonakulova was on duty that day. Early in the morning she reported that the castle was entrance doors intact, but the doors in the exhibition halls were broken. Together with her, we went to the police department of Sharory. IN exhibition halls we then entered together with the police, - Jobirov recalls.
According to the interlocutor, it was found that the robbers, having broken the doors of three rooms, stole a total of 61 museum exhibits from one showcase. These were: 21 silver coins of the XIV-XIX centuries and 40 women's silver jewelry: rings, earrings, bracelets, pendants and various accessories from different eras.
All these museum exhibits were purchased in 1984 from the population, - says the director of the reserve. - The Commission of the Ministry of Culture then estimated the stolen property at $410. But in fact, these artifacts are priceless, it is wrong to evaluate them in such a sum.
According to Zikrullo Jobirov, at that time the museum had not yet been equipped with an increased security system. But after that incident, the Gissar reserve was provided with an uninterrupted power supply line. 16 video surveillance cameras were installed, four of which were located on the territory of the fortress. It is planned to install eight more cameras by the end of the year.
The director of the reserve stressed that in those days the police were actively working, but "alas, the crime still remains unsolved."
We hope that the case will still be solved,” he says. - The police assured us that the case will be in production for half a century and will definitely be solved.
Meanwhile, this is not the only large museum theft undiscovered by law enforcement officers. Four years later, on November 8, 2010, in National Museum them. Behzod another major theft took place. Then three gold coins of the era of Khorezmshahs were stolen, as well as more than forty coins of the times of the Kushanids, Ghaznavids and several ancient books.
Life in Central Asia: From Samarkand to Uzgen - the most ancient cities of the region
CA NEWS (UZ) - Are the cities of Central Asia that claim to be ancient really as ancient as they want to appear, is there any solid evidence for this, and what do scientists say? Open Asia Online did its research, and this is what they found out.
“The question of when the city was “born” is very difficult, and in some cases even very confusing, explains historian Denis Kulishov. - Different experts use different methods of dating, there are different hypotheses, different studies are being carried out. According to some sources, only those that were constantly inhabited by people can be considered the oldest cities. Some experts believe that the age of the city (namely the city, and not just a human site) should be taken from the date of the first written mention, others are sure that the chronology should be based on the degree of antiquity of the first archaeological find at the site of the settlement.
In any case, we need serious scientific work: historical, archaeological.
So, according to the archaeologist, candidate of historical sciences Yerkebulat Smagulov, the idea to find the most ancient cities in Kazakhstan should be fueled by real research that needs to be funded.
Nevertheless, in every country of Central Asia there are cities that claim to be considered ancient. Note that we are talking only about those settlements that, as they say, have stood the test of time. They have gone through different stages, but they still exist.
Kazakhstan
Almaty: 1000 years
Previously, it was customary to consider the age of the city since the founding of the Verny fortress - 1854. And this meant that the city was no more than 160 years old. Talks about the 1000-year-old age of Almaty began in the late 70s. However, concrete evidence ancient origin did not have. Separate references to the fact that Almaty was built on the remains of an ancient settlement were found by the researchers Chokan Valikhanov and Vasily Bartold.
Among the evidence of the 1000th anniversary of Almaty today, archaeologist Karl Baipakov names three arguments: coins of the 13th century with the inscription "Balad Almatu", excavations of the ancient settlement of Almaarasan in the foothills, where a compactly located residential area was discovered, which can be attributed to the Usun settlement of the 3rd century BC , and written sources mentioning Almaty as a city. For example, the works of Babur and Mohammed Haidar Dulati.
Shymkent: 2200 years
Director of the Institute of Archeology named after A. Margulan Baurzhan Baitanaev and scientist Karl Baipakov claim that Shymkent is the oldest city in Kazakhstan. Proof of this is the ceramic complex found in the excavations, which in its structure corresponds to the age of Afrosiab (Samarkand).
At the same time, scientists put forward a hypothesis that the city of Nujiket, described by the Chinese Xuen Jian in 629, is ancient Shymkent. But in order for the scientific world to officially recognize the date of birth of Shymkent, Kazakhstani specialists need to go through a number of procedures.
Taraz: 2000 years
Taraz is officially considered the oldest city in Kazakhstan. In 2002, Kazakhstan solemnly celebrated its 2000th anniversary. Evidence of his age is the mention of him by the Byzantine ambassador Zemarch in 568. Silk Road. In the 8th century Taraz was known as Argu-Talas, Altyn-Argu-Talas-ulush.
Turkestan: 1500-2000 years
In 2000, another city in South Kazakhstan - Turkestan - celebrated its 1500th anniversary. Known to historians as Yassy and Shavgar, this city was the capital of the Kazakh Khanate.
Tajikistan
During the years of independence, Tajikistan acquired several ancient cities at once. The youngest of them, Kulyab, according to the studies of Tajik scientists, turned 2700 years old in 2007, i.e. he is a little younger than Rome and older than Istanbul.
Kulyab: 2700 years
In 2002, Tajik scholars concluded their debate about the age of Kulyab not as a human settlement, but as a city with elements of urbanization. Experts came to the conclusion that the age of Kulyab is much more solid than was previously believed, after a stove was found during the repair of the city water supply, which dates back to the seventh century BC. In addition to the stove, archaeologists discovered an ancient heating system, a bathhouse and images of the Aryan cross on pieces of ceramics. Chemical analysis of these finds determined the date of the foundation of the city.
Hissar: 3000 years
The resolution on the celebration of the 3000th anniversary of Gissar, located 20 km from Dushanbe, was approved by the government of Tajikistan in 2012. The birthday was celebrated in 2015, then the status of the city was returned to Gissar and several new facilities were built on its territory.
Tajik scholars argue that the territory of the Gissar Valley was part of Bactria, then the Greco-Bactrian and Kushan kingdoms, as evidenced by the remains of ancient settlements and settlements found by archaeologists. In the Middle Ages, Hissar was a city of artisans and a market center. In the XVIII- XIX centuries it turned into the Gissar Bekdom - one of the 28 possessions of the Bukhara Emirate. From these times, the Hissar fortress has been preserved - one of the most famous architectural monuments in Tajikistan.
Dangara: 4000 years
The fact that the village of Dangara in the south of Tajikistan has an ancient history, scientists have tried to prove for a long time. In July 2016, the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan officially announced that their research showed that Dangara is more than 4 thousand years old. “We sent our findings for examination to international scientific centers, including to London to find out exact time their origin. But it is already clear that all of them have a history of more than 4,000 years, and there were clearly traditions of urban life here,” President of the Academy of Sciences Farhod Rahimi said at a meeting with journalists.
Scientists, according to Rakhimi, suggest that Dangara is a continuation of the Sarazm civilization, which is more than 5.2 thousand years old. However, it is not yet known for what reason the population left this city.
Kyrgyzstan
The most ancient cities on the territory of Kyrgyzstan are the ancient settlements of Suyab, Balasagun and Nevaket. They are included in the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List. However, in the course of history, these cities ceased to exist. But among those that “live” now, two cities can be distinguished. And both of them are in the south of the country.
Osh: 3000 years
In 2000, Osh celebrated its 3000th anniversary. The city owes such an ancient history to the Russian archaeologist, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Yuri Zadneprovsky. His student, E.V. Druzhinina, being an employee of the historical and cultural museum-reserve Sulaiman-too, discovered pottery shards of the so-called Chust time on the slopes of the mountain. She told her mentor about this, he already informed the world community about it. But the earliest mention of the city in the annals dates back to the 9th century AD, which still allows us to consider it the oldest city in the country.
Uzgen: 2000 years
This ancient city is much smaller than Osh both in terms of area and population. According to some sources, it is at least 2 thousand years old. According to archaeologists, the city arose in the II-I centuries BC on the trade route from the Ferghana Valley to Kashgar and soon became a center of trade and handicrafts. At the beginning of the first millennium, Uzgen (Uz, Uzgend) was one of the capitals of Fergana. Already by the VIII-IX centuries. Uzgen is overgrown with powerful walls, and XII century became the second most important capital of the Karakhanid state. Ancient Uzgen was a powerful fortress with gates from which roads led to China, Samarkand, Kashgar and in all directions of the Ferghana Valley. Time left almost no evidence of the former greatness of ancient Uzgen, its numerous once mosques and madrasahs. Only the medieval layout of the city with one-story buildings and narrow streets, as well as a minaret (XI century) and three mausoleums of the Karakhanid dynasty, decorated with beautiful terracotta ornaments, have survived to this day.
Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan keeps the memory of many historical events. The ruins of the settlements of Nisa, Misrian, Merv and today are proof of the former glory of these places. Local scientists claim that their cities can claim the title of not just ancient, but also the most ancient.
Anau: 7000 years
This discovery belongs to the American scientist Rafael Pampelli, who arrived in these places in 1904, already at an advanced age (he was then 73 years old). He, however, was a geologist, not an archaeologist. But he dug with enthusiasm and unearthed signs of a high culture that existed here, as ancient as Babylon, and even older than Pharaonic Egypt. The history of the settlement knows several periods. In the VIII-XII centuries, the fortress was in the hands of the Arabs, and then was destroyed by the Mongols, but already at the end of the XIII century. restored. In the Middle Ages, the fortress grew to a small town and was again destroyed.
Kunya-Urgench: 2000 years
The ancient capital of Northern Khorezm, mentioned in Chinese sources already in the 1st century BC. AD, in the middle of the VIII century came under the rule of the Arabs. In 995, Gurganj (it received such a name after the Arab expansion) became the residence of the Khorezm Shah and the second largest city after Bukhara, the capital of the Samanid Empire. major cultural and shopping mall Middle Ages, he gave shelter to Avicenna (Abu-Sina), Al-Beruni, Ibn-Battuta and other famous thinkers of that time.
The city of Kunya-Urgench is mentioned in holy book Zoroastrians - Avesta - under the name "Urva", "Urga". In 1221, the city, called the "heart of Islam", Kunya-Urgench, was destroyed by the Mongols of Genghis Khan. Having quickly restored its power, Kunya-Urgench in 1388 is again destroyed by the Mongol troops, this time it is Timur who considers the city nothing less than a competitor to Samarkand. Kunya-Urgench was revived again and in 1388 was again destroyed by the Mongol troops. In 1646, after the construction of the new city of Urgench on the territory of Uzbekistan, the old Urgench became known as Keneurgench. After that on long years Urgench fell into oblivion until in 1831, during the construction of the Khan-Yab irrigation canal, people again came here.
Uzbekistan
In Uzbekistan, every city has an ancient, even ancient history. Margilan, Rishtan, Khazarasp, according to historians, arose at least two thousand years ago. Termez celebrated its 2500th anniversary in 2002. Approximately the same age, archaeologists say, and Khiva. Shakhrisabz was founded over 2700 years ago.
Tashkent: 2200 years
In 2009, the capital of Uzbekistan celebrated its 2200th anniversary. True, in 1983 Tashkent celebrated its 2000th anniversary. How did Tashkent mature by 200 years in just 26 years? Candidate of Historical Sciences, head of the Tashkent archaeological expedition, senior researcher at the Institute of Archeology of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan Margarita Filanovich, who was directly involved in determining the true age of Tashkent, explained why this happened.
“The oldest urban settlement on the territory of Tashkent is the settlement of Shashtepa (variants - “bowls”, “tash”, in translation - “stone”). During these excavations, it was determined that Tashkent is at least two thousand years old. The age of this settlement was determined by analogy with the South Kazakhstan settlements of Tyul-tobe and Kyzylkaynar-tobe, which have a similar form of buildings and are also dated with faces of the 1st century BC. - II century AD At that time, we still could not say with certainty what the origins of this culture were, who inhabited this ancient settlement, where these people came from, which means that we could not draw any analogies. The evidence base needed to be strengthened. But now we know for sure that the migration of peoples from the Aral Sea region took place at the end of the 3rd - beginning of the 2nd century BC - not later. Because in their ancestral home by the 2nd century BC there was already a desert unsuitable for life. Hence this date arises - 2200 years. Based on our data, UNESCO included the anniversary of Tashkent in its calendar for 2009,” the archaeologist explained.
Bukhara: 2500 years
According to confirmed data, the age of Bukhara reaches 2500 years. In ancient times, it was part of one of the regions Central Asia- Sogd, where already in the time of Alexander the Great the town-planning structure was developed. Not far from the city was the ancient settlement of Varakhsha, famous for its magnificent wall paintings depicting cheetah hunting scenes. The center of Bukhara is the Ark fortress, where the rulers and their entourage lived. Behind its walls, a city proper - “Shahristan” was formed. It was surrounded by trade and craft suburbs - "rabad".
From the 2nd century BC to the 3rd century AD, Bukhara was part of Kangyui. In the 5th century, it became part of the Ephthalites state. In the VI-beginning of the VII century - in the Western Turkic Khaganate. With the arrival of the Arabs in the 7th century, Islam spread in Bukhara. Since that time, mosques and minarets, madrasahs and religious complexes began to be built. For more than a thousand years, the mausoleum of the Samanids has been admiring with its beauty, impeccable proportions and ingenious design. architectural ensembles Poi Kalyan, Lyabi-Khauz, Gaukushon and others are the best examples of the creations of medieval architects. In Bukhara, many monuments of residential architecture and palaces, baths and commercial buildings have also been preserved.
Samarkand: 2750 years
In 2006, in accordance with the decision of UNESCO, Uzbekistan decided to celebrate the 2750th anniversary of Samarkand. However, in 1980, this city celebrated its 2500th anniversary. Then the Soviet scientists Uzbek origin proved precisely this venerable age ancient city. In ancient history, Samarkand is known as the capital of the ancient state of Sogdiana, described as early as the 6th century BC. in the holy book of Zoroastrianism, the Avesta.
In the writings of Roman and Greek historians, it was first mentioned under the name of Marakanda, which was used by Quintus Curtius Ruf, Arrian, Strabo and other biographers of Alexander the Great, who conquered Samarkand, which by that time was a well-developed and fortified city, in 329 BC. IN IV-V centuries Samarkand was ruled by the Khionites and Kidarites, Turkic tribes who spoke Eastern Iranian languages. At the beginning of the 6th century, Samarkand was captured by the Hephthalites and included in their empire, which included Khwarezmia, Sogdiana, Bactria and Gandhara.
Dushanbe, the story of which I have finished, like any self-respecting capital, forms an impressive agglomeration stretching for fifty kilometers along the Gissar Valley - from Pakhtaabad on the Uzbek border to Vahdat, one and a half million people live in it. The historical center of this whole system is the small town of Gissar (26 thousand inhabitants), or rather the ancient village of Kalai-Khisor in its suburbs, a couple of tens of kilometers west of Dushanbe.
It takes less than half an hour to drive from the capital to Gissar from the Zerafshan penny at the end, which continues with perhaps the best road in all of Tajikistan through the western wing of the Dushanbe agglomeration. The area here is built up almost continuously, and quite strange entities come across along the road:
The route passes approximately in the middle of the valley, and although the powerful ridge on its northern side is called Gissar, Hissar-town is located a few kilometers from the route near the southern foothills. Closer is the Babatag ridge, farther in the haze - Narshitau beyond the Kafirnigan river, which is large by Central Asian standards, flowing south to the border of the Amu Darya. Dushanbe stands a little to the east of the Kafirnigan gates on the Varzob flowing down from the Gissar mountains, while Gissar is a little to the west on the Khanaka River.
At the entrance to the entrance you are greeted by a grandiose hundred-meter-long melon, perfectly visible (as well as railroad station Khanaka) - whether concert hall, or a giant teahouse for 2300 guests. It was built in 2011-13, and if our public, which claims to be progressive, considers the 1000th anniversary of Kazan to be an unheard-of babai, then in Central Asia they do not skimp on dates, and they built this entire complex for the celebration of the 3000th anniversary of Gissar. However, this is nothing: Dangara, the hometown of the president, recently celebrated its 4000th anniversary! And I strongly doubt that such unthinkable dates will surface near Kurgan-Tyube, Khujand or Khorog: in the "clan geography" of Tajikistan, a small but influential Hissar clan occupies a special place, which owns an aluminum plant in Tursunzade - the country's largest enterprise. "Hissar" in civil war were allies of the "Leninabad", and later became close to the "Kulyab" people, who peacefully pushed the northerners away from power in the capital: in the political sense, Gissar is a kind of key to Dushanbe. It was the people of Gissar, under the leadership of the Prime Minister and founder of the Popular Front, Safarali Kendzhaev (he himself, however, from the north), who drove the oppositionists out of the capital in December 1992. And I do not rule out that the elite of the Hissar clan gathers in this "melon" on major holidays, and their children study at the lyceum. But whatever the background, the building is impressive - as often happens, in poor Tajikistan, architects and their customers have to use fantasy instead of tons of marble and gilding:
Gissar itself changed its status several times in the 20th century from a city to a village and vice versa. Until 1907, it was more of a city, the center of the Gissar bey in the east of the Bukhara Emirate, but that year it was destroyed by an earthquake and Bek Shakhimardankul with his yard. Under the Soviets, Gissar was listed as an urban-type settlement, in 1993 it became a city, in 2005 it lost this status, and in 2016, a few months before my arrival, it again broke out into the cities. Its center, as it should be in Central Asia, is a bazaar, and although in civilian life Gissar was a stronghold of "Yurchiks" (secular forces), the people here look utterly patriarchal:
The seller of the chalob has the appearance as it should be - a skullcap, beards and shaved mustaches. The food in Gissar is delicious - both chalob (albeit very spicy) in this shop and kurutob in another place turned out to be the best I've tried.
The bazaar occupies a whole block in the ring of roads, and we walked around it in a circle.
In the center of Gissar, entire streets are built up with Stalinist low-rise, sleepy buildings, and it should be noted that this is a rarity in Central Asia - in most of its cities, these have been replaced at least with Khrushchev, or vice versa - mass construction came there only in the era of Khrushchev:
To the east of the market quarter is the Gidroizol plant and its microdistrict, to the west - the center of Gissar itself, where Wikimapia shows a recreation center in the middle of the park and an unfinished circus (!), As well as a very interesting new museum building,. Away is the Khanaka station, which has been operating since 1928 (however, judging by the view from the plane, the station is typical and I will show a dozen of them in one of the following posts), and quite on the outskirts is the siphon of the Great Gissar Canal (1940-42, 50 km) diving under the bed of Khanaki. But all this completely slipped out of my head, so bypassing the bazaar quarter, we began to look for a car to the Hissar fortress.
Already in the immediate vicinity of Dushanbe, not everyone you meet speaks Russian, and instead of "Gissar fortress" I began to ask "Gissar-kala". But this would work in the Turkic countries, and in Tajik the word order is the same as in Polish, and Kalai-Khisor would be correct. In any case, it makes no sense to take an individual taxi there (and this is 7 kilometers) - although Kalai-Khisor is listed as a separate village, in fact, this is a suburb where collective taxis go no less than to Dushanbe, and takes the whole way from the capital with a change less than an hour. On the way, very interesting late-Soviet houses, I have not seen similar projects anywhere else:
At some point, to the right of the road, the ancient settlement of Khisortep, overgrown with grass, rises, on the other side of which ancient Gissar is located. The city on this site may not have existed for 3000 years, but more than 2000 - for sure, and in ancient times it was known as the capital of the country Shuman, Shodmon (among the Persians) or Su Man (among the Chinese), the mountainous periphery - there were only a couple of Buddhist monasteries , but there was a castle, the power of which its ruler Filsnab Bozik in a letter to the Arabs characterized as follows: "an arrow from my bow reaches only the middle of the wall, and my bows are more perfect than others." Filsnab was extremely arrogant, and in 709-10 he expelled Arab officials from his borders, refused to pay tribute and by cunning killed Ayoshi Gababi, who had come to sort things out, sending his warrior to him under the guise of a Muslim who had gone over to the side of the Arabs. After such a troublemaker, Kuteiba ibn Muslim himself, the conqueror of Bukhara, Samarkand and Tashkent, took up the job, and although the brother of the first Muslim tried to reconcile Kuteiba with Filsnab, in the end the matter ended in a war, and the Shuman ruler died in battle, having previously hidden untold riches in a bottomless fortress well . However, the Arabs quickly restored the fortress, destroyed by stone-throwing machines, already under their garrison, and Schuman, if not flourishing, then remained a strong trading city, the districts of which were famous throughout Central Asia for their saffron, until the next conqueror, Genghis Khan, wiped it off the face of the earth. But life continued, under the ruins of the fortress, the village began to grow again, which the inhabitants called the Fortress, that is, in Persian, Hisar. The city finally revived at the end of the 14th century, when Gissar was known as the "arsenal of Tamerlane" in his campaigns against India and Iran, and a hundred years later there was already one of the residences of Sultan Mahmud, the eighth ruler of the Timurid dynasty. Well, then the decline of all of Central Asia began, in which Gissar remained a strong trading town, the center of the most developed bekdom of Eastern Bukhara, until an earthquake destroyed it in 1907 ... I have already told the further story.
Now the remains of the ancient city are occupied by a small park. Residents of Kalai-Khisor go to the city to the market, and the people of Gissar and Dushanbe go here for a walk. The slope of the ancient settlement from the previous frame is visible in the green on the right, and on the left in the perspective of the New Madrasah square:
A trio with a tambourine, a drum and a surnay played music near the plan of Old Hissar - we arrived here on Saturday around noon, and either one huge one was walking under the settlement (I had mistaken it for the City Day), or several small weddings.
It seems that the administration of the Hissar Museum-Reserve and the tourist office:
The park is bustling with life. Pay attention to the girl on the right: in the West, the position in which she sits is now called "Slavic squatting", but the trick is that they are not Slavic at all - if in Russia it is the prerogative of gopniks to sit like that, then in Central Asia you can "on the courts" to see absolutely decent people. On the left is an ancient spring, part-time refrigerator, from where the defenders of Schuman from the Arabs took water.
But the monument on the edge of the square - the defenders of the fatherland, not from the Arabs and not from the Mongols, but from the Germans in the Great Patriotic War far from here. Tajikistan is the only post-Soviet country where one does not always believe in a common history... Behind the square there is a huge and red-hot square, over which hang replicas of the walls of the Gissar fortress. In some places they write that this is a pure remake of the 1980s, in others - that the gates of the 16th century are still genuine here. The truth is in the middle - here in this post is a postcard from the 1970s before restoration, from which it follows that the first tiers of the towers and most of the arch are authentic here, in which the border of the old and new masonry is visible to the naked eye:
The square itself is best seen from the top of the citadel - it is nothing more than a former registan, as the main square was called not only in Samarkand. Opposite the fortress gates are the remains of the ancient city, from right to left the New Madrasah (17-18th century), the Old Madrasah (16-17th centuries) with the foundation of the House of Ablutions (to which a ceramic water pipe led), the foundation of the Khishtin caravanserai (17-18th centuries), and behind the trees are the domes of the Makdumi-Azam mausoleum. The largest Hissar madrasah Chashma-Mohiyon of the 15th century has not been preserved.
View in the opposite direction between two madrasahs:
I don't know for sure what is in the New Madrasah now. The most beautiful carved door surrounded by wooden information boards is locked:
The quarter of the Old Madrasah is larger. As I understand it, its right corner with a large dome also served as a mosque. As for Khishtin, I have repeatedly seen references to some mysterious photograph of 1913, in which he is captured whole, and they even want to recreate him from it, but I never found the photograph itself.
Only the facade seems to be authentic in the Old Medrsa, and the courtyard is a replica of the same photo:
A museum lives in the Old Madrasah, right at the entrance meeting with a huge and very inconveniently located map of the architectural antiquities of Tajikistan - not to say complete (especially in the Pamirs), but containing many not too well-known objects. By clicking on the picture below, it will open in full size, the picture itself is not on general form corner of the map (also note that the letter " ҷ " reads like "j"):
Otherwise, the museum is rather poor, only a characteristic column with a capital reminds that the ancient Greeks once ruled here.
Basically, ethnography is exhibited in the Old Madrasah, including Hissar suzani, which have much in common with Uzbek embroidery (see), before the national delimitation of the former, in fact, the mountainous outskirts of Hissar.
Moreover, Karatog is located nearby, one of the largest centers of traditional embroidery and ceramics in Tajikistan:
I don’t remember exactly which ceramics are local of foreseeable times, and which are ancient, there is both here:
In Central Asia, wooden shoes were also in use:
But most of all, this museum impresses with its structure - instead of a room with halls of a cell-khujra along the edges of the courtyard. A well was found in one of them:
Behind the Old Madrasah in the middle of a wasteland, apparently an ancient cemetery, stands the mausoleum-mosque of Makdumi-Azam, like other buildings - 15-16 centuries, but at the heart of almost the 11th century. Neither exactly when it was built, nor who rests in it - there is no unequivocal information, because even "makdumi-azam" is not a name, but only the appeal "greatest master". It is known that one of the leaders of the Naqshbandi Sufi order that originated in Central Asia and was extremely influential there (see), and that in Gissar there was a Naqshbandi khanaka built in the 16th century. Perhaps one of the disciples of that same Makdumi-Azam is buried here, or it is just a kadamjay - a symbolic grave of the saint.
Domes of the mausoleum:
Next to the new mosque. I don’t know why myself, but the informal Kalai-Khisor somehow reminded me of Old Crimea with its antiquities in the middle of the private sector.
Returning to the square, I climbed into the settlement along a steep (in some places there is a risk of falling back) path to a round tower, clearly visible in the frame above. The height of Hisortepa is about 40 meters:
On the wall, only a small area has been redistributed, but mainly it is an overgrown rampart made of swollen clay:
From the inside, the fortress, like a giant bowl, was filled over the centuries with a cultural layer - both Samarkand and Bukhara are arranged in the same way, because their clay buildings, collapsing, turned back into clay:
Hanging over Kalai-Hisor from the west is a low (1465 m), but picturesque mountain Poi-Dul-Dul, from which, according to legend, the Righteous Caliph Ali himself came here under the guise of a tightrope walker, and then his horse with a sacred sword jumped over the wall The Prophet Zulfiqar, with whom the caliph killed the evil sorcerer, the enemy of Islam ... perhaps, in fact, behind this legend is the capture of Shuman by the Kuteiba army, and if so, then this means that the outcome of the siege was decided by scouts. In the legends, the local fortress is generally an evil place - according to the Shahnameh, it was built by the villainous king Afrosiab in his war with the hero Rustam.
It seems that people left this settlement in time immemorial ( the oldest buildings found by archaeologists for more than 2000 years), but in fact the residence of the Hissar bek was located here until the beginning of the 20th century. The Hissar fortress was destroyed by the earthquakes of 1907 and 1927 and the Red Army, from which the Basmachi held the defense here. The ruins of an adobe building at the top of the citadel, which in our minds had little in common with a palace, are captured in a pre-revolutionary photograph.
The current Hissar settlement (Khisortepa) is deserted and huge. It consists of three parts - the ruler himself lived on the compact citadel, and the high part to the left of the gate, where I climbed, for some reason is called Shuturkhona ("Camel House") - here were the houses of the Hissar nobility:
On the other hand, there is a low spacious Askarkhana, literally "House of the Army", where the emir's garrison was stationed. The amphitheater is, of course, a remake, but it reminds you of the Greek past of Bactria.
We also climbed the citadel - on the frame above it is clearly seen that its top has become a construction site, and now there most likely rises something symbolizing the ancient palace of the Shuman ruler. On the road leading to the summit, the dust is naturally ankle-deep.
The "gate" between the ridges, clearly visible on the frame above, is the Kafirnigan valley, a direct path to the sultry cruel Khatlon. Under the tightrope walker's mountain - some kind of remake factory:
The hollow between the citadel and Shuturkhana is Darvazkhana (Gateway), and recently a shopping arcade has been built in it, it is not very clear how appropriate it is in the fortress. I worked from these shops, God forbid, if alone, with suzani and skullcaps:
The main gate through which most tourists enter the citadel:
The fortress was quite crowded, and judging by the fact that no one came to talk to us and did not yell "hello!" in a wild voice, these are Dushanbe residents:
Under the citadel, raising dust, riders galloped:
But it was clear from everything that while the people are just looking for something to have fun, while away the time until the evening holiday
And the only intelligent and impeccably speaking Russian person who started a conversation with us turned out to be a local local historian guide, and on his tip we went deep into the village to look for the Sangin mosque. However, the village of Kalai-Hisar can be called very conditionally, and its streets are more like the mahallas of the city outskirts.
"Noni Garm" means "hot bread", Garm people do not go here:
The stone mosque, or Sangin in Tajik, is a fifteen-minute walk from the fortress, and it’s not easy to find it - we asked passers-by for directions several times, and as a result, a Tajik who was selling watermelons in the shade ordered his young comrade to see us off. He barely spoke Russian, but that was enough for the story that he worked as a sailor in Russia and, in fact, in Moscow, was a bandit to all bandits! Or something like that - Tajiks love to joke and compose, I noticed this trait of theirs on my last visit to Samarkand ... Well, the Stone Mosque itself sadly stands completely abandoned in the middle of a wasteland, and these searches were certainly worth it:
I did not find exact information about when and by whom it was built: in various sources it is dated to the 12th or 16th century, the older part is called either the central or the lower, converging on the fact that it was a small pre-Mongolian mosque, capitally expanded in the 15th-16th centuries and took its final shape already in the 18th century. It turned out as a result of something completely Turkish in appearance - in Central Asia I don’t immediately remember such mosques (although something vague is spinning in my memory), but in Crimea there are such ones through one, only a minaret similar to a spear is missing. Please note that only the upper part of the mosque is brick, and the lower part is made of wild stone - this is a huge rarity in Central Asia, local architects did not know how to build like that, and in other places known to me (, ) visiting Armenians are considered the authors of such masonry, but also then - in centuries much older. Such a strange greeting from the Ottoman borders...
In the domed hall of the mosque, I looked out for resonator jugs embedded under the dome. Sangin's last riddle - why is it abandoned in such a pious country, like some sad churches in the Russian Non-Black Earth region?
In general, despite the considerable redistribution of Gissar - an interesting town, a half-day trip from Dushanbe, where there are no antiquities at all, it certainly deserves. In addition, of all the ancient cities of Tajikistan, it is perhaps the best studied and described in Russian:; Here - . Life and color..
. Overview and table of contents.
Hissar is considered one of the oldest settlements on the territory of the modern one, through which the legendary Great Silk Road ran.
As soon as we set foot on Tajik soil, we learned that a city called Gissar was preparing to celebrate its modest 3,000th anniversary. Therefore, quickly gathering, we rushed to the west: from the capital to our finishing point, it would take no more than half an hour to go.
If you go a little deeper into history, this territory is mentioned in the sacred book of the Zoroastrians - Avesta as "Shumon". After the destruction, on the ruins of the fortress, a village began to grow again, which the inhabitants called Hissar, which means “fortress” in Persian. Today, only rounded mounds, called “tepa” (“hill”), remain from the walls of the once powerful fortress.
By the beginning of the 20th century, there were two madrasahs, more than ten mosques, four city gates, and a central market in the city. But with the beginning of the 20th century, Hissar, directly and figuratively, shocked by 2 events: the earthquakes of 1907 and 1927 and the confrontation between the Red Army and the Basmachis, who were holding the defense in the fortress. From that moment on, the city began to decline.
Hissar fortress or Qalai Hisor- one of the most famous buildings in Central Asia and the main historical landmark of Tajikistan.
Our desired object of visit is located 5 km from the center of the modern city, towering on a hill overgrown with grass. Even with the naked eye, you can see that many of the buildings are replicas, and differ in the color of the brick and the quality of the masonry from the older historical layers. Alas, time spares nothing and no one, and the wrong restoration can cross out everything in the bud.
In fact, only the first tiers of the towers and most of the entrance arch are authentic here. According to historians, inside the fortress there was a huge courtyard with a swimming pool and a large garden, and opposite the fortress there was a bustling market square with a caravanserai and many shops.
An obligatory attribute of the park surrounding the fortress are endless weddings and accompanying musicians with national instruments, adding a unique oriental flavor.
Also here you can see two huge spreading plane trees under 700 years old. Idylls, cute old men - aksakals, resting on a bench in their shade, add to this picture.
Opposite the fortress gates, the remains of the ancient city are located buildings Old(XVI century) and New Madrasah(XVII century). Interior decoration madrasah (religious schools) is not particularly rich, but here you can see the most beautiful carved wooden doors and traditional figured bars on the windows - panjara.
In the building of the old madrasah there is not the richest on the exposition Historical Museum, with exhibits found during excavations in the fortress. Right next to it, there are the remains of the foundations ablution houses(who, by the way, had a ceramic plumbing) and Caravanserai "Khishtin" acting as a hotel.
Of the religious buildings of Hissar, it is worth noting the newly built Mosque "Chashmai Mohiyon"(VIII century) and Mosque "Sangin""("Stone Mosque") - a monument of Tajik architecture, built in the XII-XVI centuries. Also noteworthy Mausoleum "Mahdumi Azam"("The Greatest Lord") - built in the 16th century, on the site of the grave of the preacher Khoja Mukhamed Hayvoki.
The modern part of the city is not particularly remarkable and, as expected in the Middle, almost all of it is occupied by a huge bazaar. Trade here is in full swing, the intoxicating smells of fresh bread and hot spices hit the nose, the sounds of klaxons are heard everywhere - this can be disorienting at first for an unprepared person.
The final touch to this “picture” is street video salons, from which old American action movies and Turkish “soap operas” are spinning at full volume, attracting local kids and onlookers, who simultaneously discuss everything they saw and heard.
Another "culture shock" for you may be the water supply system in the city. From the long ditches flowing from the Gissar Canal, residents can simultaneously wash clothes and draw water for household needs.
Already at the exit from the city, along the highway we are escorted by a grandiose building resembling a giant melon. This colossus is nothing more than a huge multi-storey teahouse that can accommodate more than 2,000 people. For the poorest Tajikistan, such a building looks overly rich.
It was with such life contradictions that the hero of the day-Gissar appeared before us - so ancient, so young.
Source: tajikistantimes.tj
Today Gissar solemnly and on a grand scale celebrates its 3000th anniversary. There pass festive events with the participation of the President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon.
The President of the country Emomali Rahmon in his speech earlier emphasized that "the main goal of celebrating the anniversary of the 3000th anniversary of Gissar is to protect the historical and cultural monuments of this famous ancient region, its improvement and the transformation of its center into a modern beautiful city."
In preparation for this anniversary, hundreds of modern facilities have been built at the expense of the republican budget and other sources of centralized financing, the local budget, entrepreneurs of the Gissar region, and thousands of new jobs have been created.
At the expense of the republican budget, a large stadium for 20 thousand seats was built, the Presidential School, several general education schools, a new central hospital, several medical institutions, a library, a museum, a central cultural and entertainment park with a national tea house. The irrigation network of the district was reconstructed, a 220 kW electrical substation was built. In addition, over 130 other facilities, including manufacturing enterprises, have been built and put into operation by local entrepreneurs.
The resolution on the celebration of the 3000th anniversary of Gissar was approved by the government of Tajikistan in 2012 with the aim of “ensuring the safety and protection historical monuments” and is scheduled for September 10, 2015, but for a number of objective reasons, this date has been postponed to October.
The territory of the Gissar valley was part of Bactria, then the Greco-Bactrian and Kushan kingdoms, as evidenced by the remains of ancient settlements and settlements found by archaeologists. In the Middle Ages, Hissar was a city of artisans and a market center. In the 18th - 19th centuries, it turned into the Gissar Bekdom - one of the 28 possessions of the Bukhara Emirate. The Gissar fortress, the most famous monument of the reserve, has been preserved since that time.
Earlier in the holy book of the Zoroastrians "Avesta" this territory is referred to as "Shumon". For the first time, the word "Hissar" ("Hisor"), as the name of a settlement, city or administrative device, was mentioned in the 11th century, it denoted a settlement where state troops were located and crafts and a market developed. Then the city was the center of the most independent part of the Samanid state.
Gissar is located in the central-western part of the republic in the center of the Gissar region and the western part of the Gissar valley, 20 km west of the city of Dushanbe, 30 km from the international airport of Dushanbe. The Khanaka River and the large Hissar Canal flow through the territory of Gissar. Hissar received the status of a city on June 26, 1993 on the basis of the Decree of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Tajikistan, but in 2005 it again became a village.
