Tashkent City - Tashkent
Tashkent is an ancient city that is more than 2 thousand years old. It originated in the region of river oases on the borders of Central Asia and the Eurasian steppes. At the dawn of its development, the city was called Chach, it was inferior to its neighbors in size and importance. Archaeologists managed to unearth several important historical objects of that time on the territory of the modern Uzbek capital. But Tashkent began to be massively built up only in the 16th century when it passed into the power of the Sheibanid dynasty and became the capital.
A new round of construction of architectural monuments falls in the 19th - early 20th century. At the same time, many administrative buildings were built by talented architects and engineers, which have survived to this day.
Over the years of its existence, Tashkent has become the largest and most prosperous metropolis in Central Asia, where ancient buildings are organically combined with skyscrapers and other high-tech buildings of modern times.
The settlement of the lands of modern Tashkent began in the Stone Age. The attractiveness of this place was due to the presence of the Chirchik River, fertile land, and an abundance of all kinds of living creatures. To make it easier to irrigate the fields, farmers diverted additional canals from the river. They still operate now but have been transformed into small rivers flowing throughout the modern metropolis.
The name Tashkent comes from Chach-kent, which means “city of the Chach country” in Turkic. So he is mentioned in the annals and documents of the Persians, who made repeated attempts to seize these lands by force. In addition to the Persian kings, they wanted to conquer Chach: the troops of Alexander the Great, the White Huns, Yuezhi, and other Central Asian nomads.
The inhabitants of the ancient city worshiped fire, being adherents of Zoroastrianism. Temples to the sun and burials characteristic of this religion were found by archaeologists throughout Tashkent.
Then Chach was wiped off the face of the earth by the conquering Arabs and managed to revive only after a few hundred years, but already on a hill where Eski-Juva, Khadra, and Chorsu squares are now located.
In the Middle Ages, Tashkent was built with clay buildings typical of the East and surrounded by a wall with 12 gates and towers. The multi-kilometer fort has not survived to this day. But you can understand what it was by looking at the decorative copy of the Samarkand Gate. Inside the citadel there were quarters of one-story brick houses with narrow streets not paved with stone, they formed several quarters - mahallas. At the beginning of the 19th century, there were almost 280 such mahallas in the old city, they were united into daha (districts) with their own separate administrative department. All areas bordered the center, where the main market was located.
The central Tashkent market has not changed its location for more than 10 centuries. It has long been not only engaged in trade but also disseminated important news. Maddakhs preached before the people, merry darvazes and maskharabozes showed their performances. Also at the bazaar, artisans, whose art was famous throughout Central Asia, traded their products.
There are many ancient architectural monuments in Tashkent, and all of them are different. For example, the Mausoleum of Abu Bakr Kaffal was built in 1541. The building is part of the Khast Imam complex, and has a high facade and a sky-blue dome. This mausoleum is not the first building that was erected over the tomb of the saint, the previous ones were destroyed by ancient earthquakes.
Now the residence of the Mufti of Uzbekistan is located in Hast Imam in the Barak Khan Madrasah. There is also a large library with many ancient manuscripts and the Islamic Institute. Imam al-Bukhari. The most valuable book in the library's collection is the famous Qur'an of Caliph Osman.
In those days, when Tashkent was not yet the capital, it was still famous and played an important role in trade relations between many countries. The Great Silk Road passed through it.
In folk tales about Tashkent, there are many references to the great commander Alexander the Great. There is a legend that once after a battle with the Scythian army in 328, he stopped for a halt at a source in the Sheikhantaur region (modern name). Having scooped up water, Alexander began to drink it directly from his golden protective helmet. In those places where drops that spilled past fell into the ground, saur trees began to grow. Until the 19th century, Tashkent even had an alley named after Alexander the Great, lined with sacred saurs. Now you will not find a single source on Sheikhantaur, but in other places of the capital, there are several fountains with geothermal water. Due to earthquakes, underground sources change the location of their outlets. Therefore, the legend of Macedonian may be based on real events.
In the Middle Ages, an architectural complex of 16 monuments appeared near the saur thickets, but after the era of totalitarianism, only three of them remained. Now the mausoleums of Kaldyrgach-biy, Sheikh Hovendi at-Takhur, and Yunus Khan are periodically being restored and carefully preserved for future generations.
In the 20s of the 20th century in one of the honey
