UNESCO Heritage of the Great Silk Road - World Heritage Treasures
The Silk Road, an ancient network of trade routes that connected East and West, is rich in historical and cultural monuments. Many of these sites have been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, highlighting their exceptional value for humanity.
Why is the Silk Road so important?
Bridge of Cultures. This route facilitated the exchange of ideas, technologies and religions between different civilizations.
Trade and Economy. The Silk Road stimulated economic growth and the development of cities along the route.
Architecture and Art. The route has preserved many unique architectural and artistic monuments.
Reference tour: https://www.central-asia.com/unesco
Tamgaly-Tash collection of petroglyphs, Kazakhstan
The monument, according to the overwhelming majority of scientists, is one of the most striking monuments of rock art in Kazakhstan and Central Asia.
In addition to the unique petroglyphs located directly on the rocks of the Tanbaly canyon, localized in six groups of petroglyphs, there are numerous separate locations, of which there are about 50, a total of 5,200 images within the territory of the World Heritage Site. The Tamgaly archaeological complex includes settlements and burial grounds, as well as altars and quarries.
The Tamgaly petroglyphs were carved using the picketing technique with stone or metal tools. All of them were divided into 48 independent complexes during the documentation. A plane of significant size with impressive six images of "sun-headed" deities, carved over a string of small images of dancing and praying people, is considered a true masterpiece of rock art. The large size of the early petroglyphs, their unique pictorial content and iconography place them on a par with the most valuable petroglyphs of Central Asian rock art. The total number of drawings in the six main groups is 3,200. Another 2,000 petroglyphs have been counted on the rest of the UNESCO site.
Suleiman Mountain, Kyrgyzstan
The sacred mountain of Sulaiman-Too in Kyrgyzstan towers over the Fergana Valley, with the city of Osh in the background, located at the crossroads of important Silk Roads in Central Asia. For more than one and a half millennia, Sulaiman has been a beacon for travelers, who considered the mountain sacred. Its five peaks and mountain slopes contain numerous ancient places of worship and caves with rock carvings, as well as largely rebuilt 16th-century mosques. One hundred and one sites with rock carvings of people and animals, as well as geometric shapes, have been recorded at the site. There are also a large number of places of worship, 17 of which are still in use, scattered between the mountain peaks and connected by hiking trails. At these places of worship, people are believed to be cured of infertility, headaches and back pain, and to receive the blessing of longevity. Worship of this mountain combines pre-Islamic and Islamic beliefs. The site represents the most complete example of a sacred mountain in Central Asia that has been worshipped for several millennia.
Proto-urban Site of Sarazm, Tajikistan
Sarazm, meaning "beginning of the land", is an archaeological site that bears witness to the development of human settlement in Central Asia from the fourth millennium to the end of the third millennium BC. The ancient ruins bear witness to the early development of the beginnings of urbanization in the region. The site, one of the oldest in Central Asia, is located between highlands favoured by nomadic herding and a vast valley where the first settled inhabitants practised agriculture using irrigation. Sarazm also preserves evidence of trade and cultural exchanges and connections between the inhabitants of a vast territory stretching from the steppes of Central Asia and Turkmenistan to the Iranian plateau, the Indus Valley and the Indian Ocean.
Samarkand – Crossroad of Cultures, Uzbekistan.
Samarkand – Crossroad of Cultures
In 2001, Samarkand was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List. In the description of the city on the UNESCO website, Samarkand is called a "crossroads of cultures", the main attractions are three madrassas on Registan Square, the Bibi-Khanym Cathedral Mosque, the Shahi-Zinda complex of mausoleums, the Gur-Emir Mausoleum and the Ulugbek Observatory.
Historic Centre of Bukhara, Uzbekistan
Bukhara, located on the Great Silk Road, is over 2,000 years old. It is the most complete example of a medieval city in Central Asia with an urban layout that has remained virtually unchanged. Of greatest interest are such monuments as the tomb of Ismail Samani, a masterpiece of Islamic architecture from the 10th century, and numerous madrassas from the 17th century.
The historic center of Bukhara, which is over two thousand years old, is located on the Silk Road. It is one of the best examples of well-preserved Islamic cities in Central Asia from the 10th to 17th centuries with a virtually intact urban structure.
Bukhara has long been an important economic and cultural city in Central Asia. For many centuries, the ancient Persian city served as a major center of Islamic culture, becoming a major cultural center of the Caliphate in the 8th century.
With the exception of a few large surviving ruins from the period before the Mongol invasions of Genghis Khan in 1220 and Timur in 1370, the ancient part of the city reflects the urban planning and architecture of the period of Uzbek rule of the Shibanid dynasty from the beginning.
Itchan Kala (Khiva), Uzbekistan
Ichan-Khala is the Inner City of the ancient Khiva Oasis, protected by a 10-metre-thick brick wall. It served as the last stop for caravans before crossing the desert to Iran. Although the city contains only a small number of very old monuments, it is recognised as a complete and well-preserved complex of Central Asian Islamic architecture, with such outstanding buildings as the Juma Mosque, mausoleums, madrassas and two magnificent palaces built by Allakulikhan in the early 19th century.
Kunya-Urgench, Turkmenistan
Kunya Urgench (Old Urgench) is located in northern Turkmenistan, south of the Amu Darya River. It was the capital of Khorezm, a region that was part of the Achaemenid Empire. The ancient city contains a number of monuments, mostly from the 11th to 16th centuries, including a mosque, a caravanserai gate, fortresses, mausoleums, and a minaret. They testify to outstanding achievements in architecture and crafts, the influence of which was felt in Iran and Afghanistan, and later, in the 16th century, in the architecture of the Mughal Empire in India.
Parthian Fortresses of Nisa, Turkmenistan
Nisa is the oldest and richest city of the Parthian Empire, a state famous for its power for six centuries, from the middle of the 3rd century BC to the 3rd century AD. The two hills of Old and New Nisa preserve traces of an ancient civilization that combined the sophistication of its traditional culture and elements of the culture of ancient Rome and Greece. Archaeological excavations carried out in two parts of the settlement revealed richly decorated architectural structures - residential buildings, official and religious buildings. The city was located at an important crossroads of trade routes and strategic interests. The Parthian state served as a kind of barrier that restrained the imperial aspirations of Rome, but at the same time remained an important connecting center between the east and the west, the south and the north.
State Historical and Cultural Park “Ancient Merv”, Turkmenistan
Ancient Merv is the oldest Central Asian city located on the Great Silk Road. The history of this vast oasis goes back 4,000 years. A number of monuments of Merv have survived to this day, with the best preserved objects dating back to the last two millennia.
Ancient Merv is a system of monuments built at different times in connection with the change in the course of the Murghab River and its gradual movement from east to west. New places were built after the old ones were abandoned and never inhabited again, becoming unique "keepers of memory". Archaeological layers were not covered by subsequent development, so the ruins of massive earthen buildings retain the characteristics of the original buildings that were not subjected to reconstruction and alteration. The Merv oasis was a giant metropolis of those times, which had no equal in Central Asia. At the turn of antiquity and the Middle Ages, Merv, within the city fortress wall alone, occupied an area of 235 hectares, and the metropolis also included a craft suburb and a vast agricultural district, many times larger than the area of the city itself.
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