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Baisun is the centre of a district in Surkhandarya province located 150 km north of the city of Termez in the south of Uzbekistan. This green and cosy town rests at the foot of the Ketmen-Chapty Mountains in the Baisuntau Range. What makes the town famous is that each family in Baisun is keen to preserve ancient rituals, traditions and customs originating from the pre-Islamic pagan culture and pass them from generation to generation. That was the place where akyns (folk poets and singers) composed heroic epic Alpomysh a thousand years ago. Baisun is a region where an authentic musical culture ..

The Jarkurgan Minaret commissioned by Sultan Sanjar and constructed by architect Ali ibn Muhammad Serakhsi in 1109, is one of Uzbekistan’s oldest minarets. The monument is located in the village of Minor, 7 km from the town of Jarkurgan and 40 km from Termez. The minaret has an original form and initially had two tiers, of which only one has remained to our days. The tower is embraced by a continuous circle of 16 semi-columns, whose brickwork forms the ‘herringbone’ pattern. The base of the minaret is covered with extracts from the Koran, which, however, had not been finished. In form..

The Zurmala Tower rising to the northeast of the Termez fortification walls of the Kushan period is one of the Buddhist monuments of ancient Termez. Probably, once there was a complex of Buddhist constructions in the area, but by the Middle Ages this territory had been turned into agricultural fields. The only construction that has survived the time span of many centuries, though lost all its decoration, is a huge stupa – the complex’s central structure. By now it has lost its form completely, but, according to excavated data, the structure consisted of a rectangular pedestal, on which a cy..

The Museum of Archaeology was founded on 24 October 2001 in honour of the 2500th anniversary of the city of Termez, following a decree from President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov. Featuring a diverse and unique collection, the museum has no rivals among its kinds in either Uzbekistan or other Central Asian countries. The internal space consists of 10 sections, each devoted to a certain theme. The museum’s entrance hall contains original stone and gypsum statues, large ceramic vessels, a stone pool and a map of Surkhandarya province with 20 archaeological monuments from different historical peri..

The Khakim at-Termezi Mausoleum is a cultic and memorial complex which formed around the grave of 9th-century theologian Khakim at-Termezi, a holy person regarded as a patron of the city of Termez. The complex is situated in the village of Sherabad 60 km north of Termez. Khakim at-Termezi is the author of numerous mystic and philosophical treatises and the founder of the Khakimi dervish order, one of the twelve best known mystic orders. In the 10th century the grave was enclosed in a mausoleum decorated with fine fretwork in ganch, which featured bright plant and epigraphic or..

Fayaz-Tepa, a complex of Buddhist temples. The Fayaz-Tepa complex was discovered by L. I. Albaum in 1963, when the archaeologist was excavating a site near the Kara-tepe Buddhist temple in the centre of Old Termez. This complex features a wide diversity of paintings and numerous sculptures in a good state of preservation. When observed from above, the temple complex has the form of a series of U-shaped corridors, cells and sanctuaries. There is a free-standing stupa of great scientific interest. Fayaz-Tepa is one of the few Buddhist cultic monuments in Central Asia that featur..

Kara-tepe is a 1st-4th-century Buddhist monastic complex built on three hills in the northwestern part of Termez. The complex includes a few temples and monasteries constructed in the early 2nd century AD. Kara-tepe features original architecture, which consists of a combination of caves in sandstone and external structures built of pakhsa (rammed earth) and mud bricks. The internal parts of the temples were decorated with themed drawings, ornamental patterns on plaster and loess and clay sculptures. Marble-like limestone and fretted gypsum were widely used in the ornamentation ..

Kyrk-Kys (‘forty girls’) is an interesting 9th-11th-century construction. According to medieval historians, this feudal palace and castle was the country residence of the ruler of Termez. History contains no references to the origin of the mansion's name. We do not know, whether a squad of 40 girls guarded the castle or the castle’s harem consisted of 40 concubines. In our days only fragments of the palace’s ruins remain to testify to the high level of craftsmanship possessed by its builders. This was a square (54 x 54 m) two-storey building with robust towers in the corners. The comp..