Tash Rabat

A stone fortress, Tash-Rabat is situated more than 3000 m. above sea-level. Tash-Rabat is located 80 km from Torugart, (the China-Kyrgyz border post) and 90 km from Naryn (in the Kara-Kojun Gorge of the Inner Tien-Shan). This fortress is known as the caravansary of the XV century, (a medieval inn for merchants and travelers on the Great Silk Road) and it was recently dated by the X century due to the archaeological and architectural research of the last years. Tash Rabat is supposed to be the monastery of nestorian-christians (or Buddhists) who came here before the Mongolian invasion and the spread of Islam.
   Tash-Rabat blends in with the mountain landscape. It has a form of a multidomed 'rectangle with sides of 35,7m and 33,7m. The whole structure consists of a large central hall (in the interiors of which "ganch" - burnt clay- plaster and traces of painting preserved) and 31 rooms around it, which are enclosed by 20 domes with 11 vaultings.
   The fortress contains numerous underground passages, secret exits, and underground prisons (zindans). Though this is the largest construction made of stone in Central Asia, it resembles similar constructions in Samarkand which were also used as a fort by refuges or hermits, a place of religious study, and a shelter for trade caravans for many centuries.