Tash Rabat

Tash Rabat

Tash Rabat situated in the surrounding mountains
Shown within Kyrgyzstan
Location Naryn Province, Kyrgyzstan
Coordinates 40°49′23″N 75°17′20″E / 40.82315°N 75.288766°ECoordinates: 40°49′23″N 75°17′20″E / 40.82315°N 75.288766°E
Type Caravanserai
History
Founded 15th century
Site notes
Ownership Tursun Ayilchyeva (caretaker)
Website http://www.tashrabatyurt.com

Tash Rabat is a well-preserved 15th century stone caravanserai in At Bashy district, Naryn Province, Kyrgyzstan located at the altitude of 3,200 meters. As early as in 1888, a Russian doctor and traveler Nicolay Lvovich Zeland suggested that it was originally a Nestorian or Buddhist monastery. [1] Researches undertaken in the end of 1970-s and beginning of 1980-s by the Institute of History of the Kyrgyz Academy of Sciences concluded that Tash Rabat was originally built as a Nestorian monastery in the tenth century, although no artifacts sacred to Christians have been found during excavations.[2]

Tash Rabat is located somewhat east of the main north-south highway. To the south is Lake Chatyr-Kul and Torugart Pass. To the north is Koshoy Korgon, a ruined fortress of uncertain date. The area is a center for hiking and horse-trekking. You can stay at the yurtcamp of the caretaker.

Architecture

The structure consists of 31 rooms including cavities in the central hall. The rooms are dome-shaped; transition from a quadrangular frame to a dome is by a squinch. Tash Rabat is completely laid by crushed stone on clay mortar with sealing joints by gypsum mortar. [3]

References

  1. Zeland, Nicolay (1888). Записки Западно-Сибирского отдела Императорского Русского Географического Общества. Книжка IX. Кашгария и перевалы Тянь-Шаня. Путевые заметки. [Notes of the West Siberian division of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society. Book IX. Kashgaria and passes of Tien-Shan. Travel notes.] (in Russian). Omsk: Imperial Russian Geographical Society. p. 212.
  2. Khudyakov, Ju. (2009). Таш Рабат - Караван-сарай или замок [Tash Rabat - caravanserai or temple.]. Priroda (in Russian) (Russian Academy of Sciences) (6): 55. Retrieved 02/05/2014. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  3. Иссык-Куль.Нарын:Энциклопедия [Encyclopedia of Issyk-Kul and Naryn Oblasts] (in Russian). Bishkek: Chief Editorial Board of Kyrgyz Soviet Encyclopedia. 1991. p. 512. ISBN 5-89750-009-6.