Kunya-Urgench

In the 12th and early 13th centuries Urgench was one of the great cities of Central Asia, until the Mongols destroyed it in 1221. Timur sacked it again in the 1380s. What survives are mausoleums and a minaret standing in an open field, with a local cemetery still in use around them.

We see the Kutlug-Timur Minaret, about 60 meters tall, the Turabek Khanum Mausoleum with its mosaic dome, and the mausoleums of Sultan Tekesh and Il-Arslan, whose roof is a cone with twelve sides.

Kunya-Urgench is about two hours by road from the Shavat border crossing near Khiva. On tours from Uzbekistan we meet you at the border in the morning, spend the middle of the day here and reach Darvaza by evening. Tours going the other way stop here on the way to the border.