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About Tashkent

Tashkent is a city on border of agricultural oases of Central Asia and boundless Eurasian steppes. It exists already more than two thousand years. In an extreme antiquity when this city still was known as Chach, it was not very large and on history value considerably conceded to more southern neighbors - to Samarkand and Bukhara. But archeologists today confidently identify in territory of modern capital of Republic of Uzbekistan some significant archeological objects, that are ancestors of Tashkent. And the kept monuments of ancient architecture have venerable age. Thus, well-known underground chilla-khana at Zain ad-din bobo mausoleum is constructed in XII century. But a great amount of ancient monuments of Tashkent which can be seen today, concern to XVI century when Tashkent became capital of one of the big state appendages of Sheibanid and ruled by authoritative branch of this dynasty.

Other group of interesting monuments of a history and architecture are the kept constructions of new city created by talented engineers of the end XIX - the beginning of XX centuries for public institutions of an administrative center of the Turkistan territory formed in Central Asia after a conquering these grounds by Russian empires.

At last, our present including both old, and new, numerous reorganizations, full re-planning, grandiose super modern construction - all this has transformed Tashkent into a unique sample of the largest Central Asian mega city in which it is extremely instructive for us to try to comprehend mutual relation of an antiquity and the present, to understand spirit of this city.

People live in a place of modern Tashkent already many thousand years. The fertile green of the Tashkent oasis stretched on coast of small, but the abounding in water river - Chirchik, have attracted the human in the Stone Age. Chirchik follows from Chimgan Mountains (this is the western spurs of highland Tien Shan, in clear weather they are well visible from Tashkent) and runs into the great river of the Central Asia - Syr-Darya.

In an antiquity to expand the area of grounds irrigated by Chirchik, in its top current - numerous channels were allocated. These channels operate even today, they proceed through modern city in the form of natural small rivers, but actually it is the irrigational constructions dug by people two - two thousand of years ago. If you look at Tashkent from the plane clearly it is possible to see, that the city settles down at bottom of high mountains on the hilly plain pitted by channels which are smoothly going down from northeast on a southwest. The highest mark within the limits of city - 511,7 meters above sea level, the lowest - 381,1 meters.

Many hills guessed under city building, - the remains of ancient settlements. It is considered that the oldest of them is Minguruk-tepe hill at northern railway station. Archeological excavations have shown, that it is the remains of initial city of Tashkent of two-thousand-year prescription, the city destroyed during the Arabian conquer of the Central Asia, that is in the beginning of VIII century. Then both the city and all oases referred to Chach. Experts make the modern name of city - Tashkent - from words Chach-kent, that in translation from ancient Turk language means "city of the Chach country". Under name Chach it is known in documents and inscriptions of ancient Persian kings who repeatedly undertook military campaigns here.

In those far times when the country Chach was desired extraction for conquerors: Persian shakhinshahs, phalanxes of Alexander the Great, nomads of the Central Asia (white Huns, uechgi), local residents were fire-worshippers, that is they profess primordially Central Asian religion - Zoroastrizm. Monuments of Zoroastrizm epoch are scattered on all territory of modern Tashkent. Under separate hills archeologists have found small strong settlements - castles, temples of Fire and other zoroastrizm deities. Rather frequently characteristic ossuaries are appeared in the ground of Tashkent - the special decorated clay vessels for burial of human bones according to strange ceremony of Zoroasrizm representatives.

After destruction of Chach (Arabs used "Shash") by conquerors - Moslems under leadership of known commander Kuteiba ibn Muslim, city in area Minguruk-tepe has not restored any more, and began to build up in the other place - on a hill between modern squares - Khadra, Eski-Juva and Chorsu. It can be imagined very evidently, standing on a platform before the kept monument of medieval architecture - Kukeldash madrasah, located at the end of Navoi Street opposite to high-altitude hotel Chorsu. Builders of XVI centuries - during Sheibanid governor Dervish Muhammad-khan have chosen this extremity southern face of medieval internal city - Shahristan - for erection of a majestic building - Madrasah (that is Islamic institute), the largest one of seventeen similar educational institutions existing in Tashkent.