Jiaohe settlement

Among the many historical sites of Turfan, a settlement Jiaohe / Yargol / Yarghol is in the first place, it was the capital of the ancient state Cheshi (2300 years ago), and later – of Gaochang Kingdom, Western Areas (Tang 618-907) and the Uigur Khaganate. This is the largest and oldest well-preserved mud-brick fort in the world. It is located in ten kilometers from Turpan. Its area is 430 thousand sq. m. Two rivers bordering the settlement to east and west, determined his name - Mesopotamia. Jiaohe was built over 3,000 years ago, this is the oldest city in the Turfan Basin. Interestingly, that the builders dug urban areas, so that the walls were left intact specially boundary sides of the hill. The length of the island in the south-north is 1650 meters, in the transverse direction - 300 meters. The city territory occupies on length about one thousand meters. From three sides: east, south and west are the city gates. The southern gates are opened for tourists.

The person, who is in town, is amazed by its scale. From south to north this town is cut by the central highway with 10 meters width, many streets and valleys running to all directions from it. There were concentrated administrative offices and residential areas in the southern part of the city, and in the northern part monasteries and temples dominated, the most famous Buddhist monasteries were Dafosy, Small North-West monastery, Small North-East monastery, and also many Buddhist pagodas. Further in north side there is a cemetery. In 1994, archaeologists have excavated here a unique underground Buddhist temple.

Posted by Centralasia Adventures

Touristic company “Asia adventures” - DMC operator in Central Asia.
Already 26 years, we organize any possible tours in Uzbekistan and other neighbor republics as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kashgar (Western China) and the Caucasian region (Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia).

Jiaohe settlement on map