The Afrasiab museum

Samarkand is one of the oldest cities in Central Asia, an open–air museum whose history dates back more than one millennium. Here, every building is an architectural monument, shrouded in legends that the local population transmits by word of mouth.

Not far from Samarkand, in 1874, during archaeological excavations, a unique and the largest settlement was found, which was named after the hero of the famous poem “Shakhnameh” by the Persian poet Firdousi, Turan Afrasiab – Afrasiab. Today, the settlement of Afrasiab is the largest archaeological monument in the world, not far from which the Afrasiab museum was founded in 1970, the opening of which was timed to coincide with the 2500 anniversary of Samarkand. The architect of the project was Bagdasar Arzumanyan.

The museum, located in the north-east of the city, near the settlement of Afrasiab, tells about the history of the city of Samarkand. 

The rich exposition of the museum, which includes 22 thousand unique exhibits, describes the life of the city, which was surrounded by an impressive fortress wall, inside which the inner city of Shakhristan was located.

The settlement of Afrasiab, located on the territory of 200ga, was once called Marakanda and was the capital of ancient Sogdiana. The cradle of Central Asian civilization, the city became the capital of the Karakhanid state in the XI-XII centuries, and after it was finally destroyed in 1220, during the invasion of the Mongols under the leadership of Genghis Khan. Restored from the ruins, the city again became the capital, but already under the rule of the Timurid dynasty. 

The museum's exposition presents exhibits that were discovered during archaeological excavations on the territory of Samarkand and Afrosiab: ancient blades, ossuaries, knives, arrows, coins, ceramics, figurines and ancient manuscripts. One of the gems of the collection are the unique frescoes that were discovered in 1965 on the walls of the palace, which belonged to the Ikhshid dynasty, which ruled in the territory of Samarkand from VII to VIII state, which united Sogd and the Fergana Valley. The name of the dynasty itself translates from Persian as “shining, brilliant”, which most accurately reflects the rich decoration of the palace. 

On one of the walls of the palace, a fresco depicting the wedding embassy that came to Ishkhid Varhuman was discovered. The embassy was headed by the daughter of the ruler of Chaganian, who sat on a white elephant. On another wall there is a picture of a battle between men and predatory animals, on the third – an endless sea with people, animals and birds floating there. The last wall depicts the audience scene of foreign ambassadors from China, Chach and East Turkestan.

The museum very accurately conveys the traditions of people of different eras who lived on the territory of Samarkand. 

The museum's exposition is annually replenished with new exhibits and attracts tourists from all over the world.