Uzgen

A Karakhanid capital on the Kara-Darya

Uzgen is a working market town on a terrace above the Kara-Darya river, at about 1,000 m in the eastern Fergana Valley. In the 11th and 12th centuries it was one of the seats of the Karakhanid state, and what survives from that period is the reason to come: a brick minaret about 27 m tall and three mausoleums standing in a row. Their portals are covered in terracotta cut before firing, with geometric bands, plaited kufic inscriptions and floral panels. The carving is the point, and it repays a slow look.

What there is to see

• The minaret, the tallest surviving Karakhanid structure in the country, standing apart from the mausoleums on the same terrace.
• The three mausoleums, built over roughly a century by different rulers, which lets you compare the decoration of each period side by side.
• The bazaar a short walk away, where devzira rice is sold from open sacks. It is the grain that gives Uzgen plov its reputation: heavy, pinkish-brown, with a powdery coating that is washed off before cooking.

Together this is a half-day, usually finished with lunch in town.

Getting there

Uzgen is about 55 km north-east of Osh, an hour and a half on a paved road through Kara-Suu; traffic is heavy and the drive rarely goes faster. Minibuses and shared taxis run through the day from Osh, and drivers take the round trip. Jalal-Abad is closer still, roughly 48 km and an hour and a quarter away, so the town fits neatly into a day between the two cities.

When to go and practical notes

The monuments are open all year and the road never closes, which makes Uzgen one of the few things in southern Kyrgyzstan that works in winter. Spring and autumn are the pleasant seasons; July and August in the valley are hot and the site has almost no shade. Tickets are sold on the spot and paid in cash. Uzgen is an ordinary Kyrgyz town rather than a tourist one, and travellers normally sleep in Osh and come for the day.