Lost Desert City
60 metres (196 feet), height of Turkmenistan’s Qutlug Timur, the tallest minaret in Central Asia
A desolate road towards an abandoned, ancient city is an exceptional circumstance to find yourself in. Even more so, after you’ve spent a couple of hours crossing a border between two countries, and every direction you stare at is one of desert expanse. Fortunately, if that’s sounding too empty and meaningless to you, the gift at the end of your journey is the epic surviving monuments of Konye-Urgench, an historically-rich city in northern Turkmenistan spanning over 10 centuries of inhabitants evolving with Persian foundations, ambitious growth, influential architecture, and multiple wild destructions.
Believed to be founded as early as the 6th century, Konye-Urgench’s foundations were laid as part of the Achaemenid Empire which was quickly extending beyond the borders of Iran. For many years, it was merely any other city, important in its own right as a caravan stop, but no more influential than the other countless hubs dotted across Central Asia. By the 10th century, the city had grown at such a remarkable rate, it was the capital of the Khorezm region, an oasis of land spread across both Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
In these times, the desire to have something of great value and beauty usually ended with a history of construction and destruction, Konye-Urgench was to be no different. In 1221, the city was destroyed by a Mongol invasion led by Genghis Khan’s son, during his reign of terror on Turkmenistan. Unlike the ruins left behind in the city of Merv, during the same campaign, Konye-Urgench was impressively rebuilt and again begun to thrive, at least for a century or so. It was then the turn of Amir Timur, the great conqueror from Uzbekistan, who completely decimated the city, and with time, Khiva became the region’s capital city.
Walking through the ancient site of Konye-Urgench today, little remains, and the monumental buildings which have somehow survived both age and invasions, emerge in solitude from the ground, rather than in a clear city plan. The grand remnants of mosques, caravanserais and tombs are scattered in an area which is accessible on foot. However, the crowning glory of this UNESCO site is the 14th century minaret of Qutlug Timur, reaching 60 metres (196 feet) in to the sky as Central Asia’s tallest minaret, and the 12th tallest in the world.
The architecture of Konye-Urgench later influenced monuments in Iran and India, which thankfully survive in far better condition. For further tales and architecture of frontiered Khorezm settlements, cross the border to Uzbekistan and read our piece on the fortress kingdom of Karakalpakstan.
