This post is third from my cycle of essays "Directly to the South!" In which I tell about my trip to the south of Uzbekistan.
The first two essays from this cycle you can read here:
- Tuz-Gori – the salt kingdom of Uzbekistan
- The ancient river port of Kampyrtepa or a trip to Buddhist Termez, Uzbekistan.
So, when we returned from Kampyrtepa to Termez, it was already dark. We stayed at the hotel, shook off a century of dust and went to dinner. Frankly, I am a typical metropolitan resident naively believed that all the achievements of civilization are concentrated in our city in Tashkent, and provincial towns are nothing but historical ruins and traditional cuisine really cannot offer. Moreover, Surkhandarya (the region where Termez is located) is famous for its patriarchy and strict morals. I remember that his relatives from Surkhandarya arrived for the wedding of one of my friends - despite the summer heat, all the women were in long, heavy velvet dresses, with headscarves. Men in suits and skullcaps. And they looked with extreme disapproval at our classmates who were wearing tight dresses and high heels. Apparently scolded "depraved metropolitan youth" ...
Imagine how surprised I was when I saw a modern evening city. Everywhere lights are burning, quite modern youth is walking, speaking in Russian. And the girls in short skirts and stilettos, competing in height with the Eiffel Tower - also enough.
We decided not to go far from the hotel and dine at the nearest "lavash center". I know that in Russia, between residents of Moscow and St. Petersburg, there are disputes about how to correctly: "shaurma" or "shaverma." At us in Uzbekistan with it is easier - we name shaurma / shaverma it is short and is simple - "lavash". And "lavash" is called a dish with chopped meat, vegetables and sauces, wrapped in pita bread. And the place where they sell "lavash” owners are traditionally called "lavash-centers". Even if they stand five in a row on the outskirts of the city, still they will all be "lavash centers."
Okay, do not bother with our local intricacies. In general, we ate "lavash", and dessert bought a very tasty chocolate ice cream. After sitting and relaxing, closer to midnight, we crawled to their numbers, and the next morning we were waiting for the bus. I prepared for the next many-hour trip, but it turned out that the museum is located a couple of steps from our hotel - literally a couple of tens of meters. Only I sat down, as I had to get out again from the bus.
When we went to the museum, I immediately saw the stylized gates of the ancient fortress of Bactria, in the opening of which hung a huge coin with the image of, apparently, the Kushan king Kanishka I. I saw a photograph of this coin in the history textbook. I terribly wanted to touch this coin, but the caretakers were not allowed to approach her. So I do not know if she was struck from metal or she was made of papier-mache ...
Okay, Ahura-Mazda with this coin ... There are a lot of interesting things in the Museum of Archeology. Firstly, it is built in the style of medieval buildings and resembles another architectural monument of Uzbekistan. But, unlike the medieval buildings, the museum is relatively young - it's only 15 years old. Its construction was timed to the 2500th anniversary of Termez. This is a highly specialized museum, which has no analogues in Central Asia. The exposition of the museum consists mainly of archaeological finds that were made in the vicinity of the city and in the Surkhandarya region.
The museum exposition includes more than 27000 exhibits from different epochs. There are collected items of everyday life, money, weapons of different eras. The exhibits are sorted by periods - from primitive people, to the present days and the exposition is constantly replenished with new finds.
Builders of the building were able to combine the Zoroastrian, Greco-Bactrian and Islamic traditions of architecture very successfully and harmoniously. The dome of the main hall of the museum is made in Islamic style, near the one wall there are the gates of an ancient fortress with the aforementioned coin, and on the sides there are ancient Buddhist sculptures. And all this is very harmoniously combined.
I was always amazed by the ability of masters from a simple piece of stone or wood to create works of art. It's amazing how almost two thousand years ago, without the use of modern tools, cutters made of alloyed metals and magnifying glasses, ancient masters created their masterpieces ... Below you can see Buddha figurines cut out of stone. Their age is dated to II-III centuries AD, i.e. they are almost 1800 years old!
Stunning clarity of lines and beauty of patterns!
And not only ceramics was preserved, but also tanks for water, oil and wine. For example, the capacity in the photo below was used to store water.
And this was a bathroom for an ancient resident. Well .... probably this is a bath. I listened to the guide in half.
Ancient sculptures created their sculptures with amazing anatomical precision.
On the second floor there is an exposition devoted to prehistoric people (100 thousand years BC). During the research in the caves of Baysuntau and Kugitanga, the remains of Neanderthals were found. Their tools of work and life are collected in the museum.
The following rooms are represented by the history of the invasion of the armies of Alexander the Great and the Greco-Bactrian period ...
By the way, in his second essay [The ancient river port of Kampyrtepa or a trip to Buddhist Termez, Uzbekistan.] (https://steemit.com/travel/@damm-steemit/the-ancient-river-port-of-kampyrtepa-or-a-trip-to-buddhist-termez-uzbekistan) I talked about the river crossing of Kampyrtepa - that's how it looked in those days.
And here is another interesting place: the Buddhist temple complex of the I-III centuries. BC. Fayaztepa, which I will talk about in one of my next essays.
If you have not yet decided where to go, then I recommend to visit the ancient Termez - I assure you it will be very interesting.
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