Silk Roads: Zarafshan-Karakum Corridor
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How it came to be
The Zarafshan-Karakum Corridor is a key section of the Silk Roads in Central Asia, linking routes from every direction. The 866 km corridor runs from rugged mountains west down the fertile Zarafshan valley, then southwest along the old caravan roads across the Karakum Desert to the Merv oasis. From the 2nd century BCE to the 16th century CE much of the exchange between east and west passed along it.
Panjakent, in Tajikistan, was a Sogdian town that grew in the 5th century, and murals were painted there from the 5th century until 722. In 722 Arab forces besieged and took the town; its last ruler, Divashtich, fled to a fortress on Mount Mugh in the upper Zarafshan but surrendered and was taken prisoner. The town was deserted by the end of the 8th century, and the Russian archaeologist Boris Marshak spent more than fifty years excavating it.
The World Heritage property spans Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan and has 31 component parts. They include town and fortress sites, caravanserais, irrigation works and the minaret of Vobkent. It was inscribed in 2023 at the extended 45th session of the World Heritage Committee in Riyadh.
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