Nurata
Nurata is a city of sacred places.
People wandered for a long time in the desert. They were completely exhausted, lost the hope, and despaired of their salvation. Suddenly, they saw in the distance a bright shimmering beam of light and decided to reach its source. Going into the light, the travelers realized that ahead of them amazingly beautiful terrain. And there is a stone fortress, from the inside of it the beam emanated.
According to one of the ancient legends, this was the way people discovered the future city of Nurata. The official history suggests that the fortress called “Nur” (translated as “ray of light”) was built by the king of Macedonia and the great commander Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC. The fortress was made for the border separation of wild steppes from agricultural areas. Today, the fortress, which has long become a ruin, is one of the greatest attractions of Nurata.
The ancient city of Nurata is perhaps the only one in Uzbekistan, there are so many sacred and miraculous places are concentrated. The extraordinary beauty of the shrine, local landscapes and surprisingly strong energy, soaring in the air, attracts many tourists and pilgrims from around the world to the city. That is why the infrastructure and tourism business are well developed in Nurata. Scientists and archaeologists regularly visit the city, gathering new facts about how the history evolved in these places and how Nurata arose.
The city of Nurata is located in the mountainous area of the Navoi region of Uzbekistan. Only here is preserved the underground water supply system “kariz”, which is filled up from the sacred spring “Chashma” and is still used by local people.
With the appearance of the spring "Chashma" also connected one legend. It is said that forty thousand years ago a huge meteorite fell to the ground, and hit the ground with such force that the cracks went down to its very depths. Water rose from under the ground, the spring Chashma appeared. The local tribes living not far from here watched for a few years how the fragments of a meteorite burn, causing a bright glow. As a result, the name "Nur" appeared - "the place where light is born."
The same legend says that the fish in Chashma spring also appeared out of the ground, it belongs to trout species, but in common people called it “marinka”. People never fed fish, but it feeds on microorganisms and decay products, so the water at the spring always remains crystal clear. Because the fish contain a lot of phosphorus, at night you can see how it glows.
One can talk about the sights of Nurata for more than one hour, so for a dear reader it is better to go to this amazing city to see everything with your own eyes. We can name only some of them: Namazgoh Mosque (10th century AD), Juma Mosque, Nur-ota Mazar, Aydarkul turquoise lake (located among the sands of Kyzylkum, 50 km from Nurata), yurt camps, rock drawings on the southern slope of the Karatau mountains, the Sarmysh gorge and many others.
Those who already visited the sacred land of Nurata at least once drank the purest, healing water from the spring, walked around the memorial complex and touched the ancient history will always dream of returning here.