Asia

[Visited: November 2023]

Carefully driving west from Shymkent, we try to avoid speed fines on the way. Which is a challenge, given that on some sections outside conglomerations, the speed limit suddenly drops to 60 or even 40, without any apparent reason, and there often is no sign canceling the reduction of speed. We pay a visit to the Otrar Museum in Shauildir, which gives us a good insight into the history of the ancient city. Once called Parab or Farab, and part of the Achaemenid Empire, it developed in a flourishing town with both an agricultural and settled dimension. It sits near the Syr Darya river, which gave it the water supply necessary to develop agriculture in abundance, as well as create irrigation systems to support it. It was also the birthplace of Abu Nasr al-Farabi, a famous Islamic philosopher.
in the early 13th century, governor Inalchuq made a capital mistake when he murdered a Mongolian trade caravan. To make things even worse, he then executed the ambassador the Mongols sent - this guaranteed the ire of Genghis Khan. The city was beleaguered, and when it was conquered, Inalchuq was murdered, its inhabitants massacred, and the city razed to the ground. Unlike some other cities on the Silk Road who suffered a similar fate, Otrar managed to emerge again. Only when this part of the Silk Road lost importance, did Otrar lose importance as a city. After visiting the Archaeological museum of Otrar, we park our car at the entrance of the ruined city. Walking in, we see a flat-topped hill: most of the remains of the city are interred inside.
Reconstructions are underway though, and on the south side, we see the partly restored city wall. We visit the ruined baths: Otrar apparently had a well-developed system of hot baths. The abundant supply of water in this otherwise desert-like environment clearly gave Otrar advantages. We then arrive at the restored city gate at the south side. Although it looks new, it gives an idea of what the city must have looked like centuries ago. We have seen the same gate on paintings in the museum we visited before. We enter the city, and see residential area being partially restored. We walk to the Friday Mosque, of which only the foundations are in place. It does give us an idea of the enormous size of the muslim temple, with three aisles and huge columns. The mihrab is still in place. We now wander through the ruins, and leave the restored section of Otrar behind us. We see some excavated ruins, and notice that in some walls, bones are sticking out of the earth. We imagine that under the grass-covered ground, many more ruins must still be hidden from view. We spot an enormous quantity of shards of pottery, many with bright colours still on them. We can only begin to realize what wealth must lie hidden in these ancient grounds. We walk on top of the ruins, on top of the old city wall, and then down to the northeast gate which has been restored. We continue around the ruined city of Otrar on the outside, until we reach another gate. Here, a fox is looking at us, sits still, and we admire its beauty. It is time to continue our exploration of the Kazakh lands, and we are on our way to the mausoleum of Arystan Bab.

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Otrar (Kazakhstan)

Otrar > Kazakhstan > Asia

[Visited: November 2023]

Around the World in 80 Clicks

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