Nurata

Nurota ( Нурота ) ( usbek. )

Look at Nurota from the fortress of Alexander the Great

Nurota (Cyrillic Нурота; Russian Нурата Nurata ) is a city in the province of Uzbekistan Alisher Navoi, located in an oasis in the desert Kyzyl Kum, 75 km north-northeast of Navoi to about 490 m above sea level. According to the population census in 1989 Nurota then had 21,000 inhabitants, a calculation for 2009 are that there is the population of 30,941. Nurota is the capital of the eponymous district Nurota.

Nurota is known as a target of religious pilgrims and for its ancient suzani. To Nurota is the Karez irrigation system of meaning.

History

Nurota, formerly known as plain, was founded in 327 BC by Alexander the Great. In the city, in the south of present-day Nurota fortress that time, Alexander's troops are said to have prepared for the storm to Samarqand. The fort was then at a strategically important location at the transition from the agricultural sector to the wild steppe.

Already in the 10th century Nurota was a target of Muslim pilgrims.

Tourism and Attractions

About Nurota enthroned today the ruins of fortress of Alexander, which is one of the oldest and most important archaeological monuments of the region. In four kilometers from the fort to find the Bronze Age petroglyphs of Zukarnay.

Below the fortress is the source Chashma (Persian چشمه Chashma, " source "). The mineral-rich water of the spring and the fish floating in it are considered sacred, since the source - so faith - was born when Ali ibn Abi Talib suggested here his staff into the ground. The source and the surrounding sacral buildings - including a domed mosque from the 10th century - is a pilgrimage center.

The nearby Nuratau Mountains and the lake in the northeast Aydarkol are the center of the emerging Uzbek ecotourism. To Nurota are some ger camps.