April 10, 2021 · 1 min read
Termez is a fantastic frontier town located in the southernmost part of Uzbekistan bordering with Afghanistan. It was also conquered from time to time by rulers of various dynasties including Alexander, Genghis Khan, and most recently by Russian and Soviets. This has given it a rich cultural diversity which you can vividly feel in your Termez City tour.
Termez is also one of the few cities in Uzbekistan and Central Asia where you'll get to experience Buddhism culture even though Central Asia had a long history of relationship with Chinese Buddhist. But later Muslim rulers dominated the land and area which declined Buddhism influence in various corners of the region.
Situated just 3 Km from ancient city of Termez, this fortress is often considered a palace, a caravanserai, an abbey, or just another civil construction. Kirk-Kiz which translates into English as forty girls is linked to a legend of princess Gulaim and forty girls who struggled and fought against raiding nomads.
Kara Tepe was founded in the early second century CE and is a Buddhist cave complex located on the banks of Amu-Darya. It was built on three hills in the northwest part of old Termez primarily for the purpose of practicing Buddhism. Later it got invaded and reused by Islamic mystics.
One of the few remaining Buddhist temples still surviving, it is more than just a temple complex and hosts some of the rare and valuable Buddhist artworks that embellishes the walls of the complex.
It is another Buddhist monument which still survives the century time span but has lost most or all of its decorations. It was entirely built out of mud walls and was the first Buddhist monument discovered in the Central Asian territory.
This is a mausoleumdevoted to Khoja Abu Isa Muhammad Imam Termezi who was a prominent Islamic figure who contributed significantly to the Hadith, second holiest book in Islam after Quran.
60 Km north of Termezlies the mausoleum of Al-Tirmidhi who was a renowned Islamic scholar and collector of Hadith books.
