Kunya Urgench

Kunya Urgench

Konye-Urgench is a city in northern Turkmenistan, south of the border with Uzbekistan. There you will find the ancient town of Gurgānj, which includes the ruins of the capital of Khwarazm. Its inhabitants left the town in the early 18th century to establish a new settlement, and Konye-Urgench has remained undisturbed ever since. The Old Urgench ruins were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2005. It is one of the country's most important archaeological sites, located in a vast protected landscape area and containing many well-preserved monuments. The old town has a series of monuments dating mainly from the 11th to 16th centuries, including a mosque, a caravanserai gate, fortresses, mausoleums and a 60-meter-high minaret. The monuments are a testimony to the outstanding architectural and craftsmanship achievements that spread to Iran and Afghanistan, and later to the architecture of the 16th century Mogul Empire in India. Among the archeological remains, Kutlug Timur minaret is probably the most remarkable structure here. Dating from the 11th-12th centuries, it is the tallest monument in the park with a height of 60 meters. Other notable remains are the Turabek-Khanum Mausoleum, the Tekesh Mausoleum, the Kyrkmolla, the Najm-ad-Din al-Kubra Mausoleum, the Sultan Ali Mausoleum and the Piryar Vali Mausoleum Complex, the Il Arslan Mausoleum and the Ibn Khajib Complex. Situated on the southern bank of the Amu-Darja River, the Old Urgench was situated on the Silk Road, one of the most important medieval routes, at the crossroads of the Western and Eastern civilizations.