Otrar and Turkistan Day Tour

Otrar is the city where medieval philosopher and scientist Al Farabi was born and lived. Otrar settlement was founded in IV century BC. This center of trade and craftsmanship was the main point of the caravan routes between Eastern Europe and China. In the late XIII century, Mongolian troops leveled the city to the ground. But, despite the catastrophic devastation, Otrar rose from the ashes and in a relatively short time economically developed. The remains of the citadel and other large buildings, the main gate, and the rabad, with an area of about 10 square kilometers, have been preserved to this day.

Turkistan was founded around 500 AD at the intersection of caravan routes from Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khiva to Northern Kazakhstan. The city was known as the spiritual and political center of Turkic-speaking people and in the XVI-XVIII centuries was the capital of the Kazakh Khanate. The city of Turkistan gained wide world fame due to the preaching activity of Khoja Ahmed Yassawi, the famous Sufi sheikh and philosopher, who was buried here in a small mausoleum in 1166. The current mausoleum was erected 233 years after his death on the orders of the emir Tamerlane, and today it is a masterpiece of medieval architecture that has become one of the main places of worship for Muslims. Pilgrims say that three trips to Turkistan equal a small hajj to Mecca.