Balasagun ( or ''Balasagyn''; ) was an ancient

Sogdia Sogdia ( Sogdian: ) or Sogdiana was an ancient Iranian civilization between the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, and in present-day Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. Sogdiana was also a province of the Achaemenid Emp ...

n city in modern-day

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the ea ...

, located in the

Chüy Valley The Chüy Valley ( ky, Чүй өрөөнү, Chüy Öröönü; kz, Шу аңғары, Şu añğary; russian: Чуйская долина) is a large valley located in northern Kyrgyzstan and southern Kazakhstan, in the northern part of the Tian Sh ...

between

Bishkek Bishkek ( ky, Бишкек), ), formerly Pishpek and Frunze, is the capital and largest city of Kyrgyzstan. Bishkek is also the administrative centre of the Chüy Region. The region surrounds the city, although the city itself is not part of ...

and the Issyk-Kul lake. Located along the

Silk Road The Silk Road () was a network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles), it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and rel ...

, the ruins of the city were inscribed in 2014 on the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

World Heritage List A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

as part of the Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor World Heritage Site. Balasagun was founded by the Sogdians, a people of

Iranian Iranian may refer to: * Iran, a sovereign state * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian lan ...

origin and the

Sogdian language The Sogdian language was an Eastern Iranian language spoken mainly in the Central Asian region of Sogdia (capital: Samarkand; other chief cities: Panjakent, Fergana, Khujand, and Bukhara), located in modern-day Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakh ...

was still in use in this town until the 11th century. It was the capital of the

Kara-Khanid Khanate The Kara-Khanid Khanate (; ), also known as the Karakhanids, Qarakhanids, Ilek Khanids or the Afrasiabids (), was a Turkic khanate that ruled Central Asia in the 9th through the early 13th century. The dynastic names of Karakhanids and Ilek K ...

from the 10th century until it was taken by the

Qara Khitai The Qara Khitai, or Kara Khitai (), also known as the Western Liao (), officially the Great Liao (), was a Sinicized dynastic regime based in Central Asia ruled by the Khitan Yelü clan. The Qara Khitai is considered by historians to be an ...

(Western Liao dynasty) in 1134. It was then captured by the Mongols in 1218. The Mongols called it Gobalik "Pretty City". It should not be confused with Karabalghasun, now Ordu-Baliq in Mongolia, which was the capital of the

Uyghur Khaganate The Uyghur Khaganate (also Uyghur Empire or Uighur Khaganate, self defined as Toquz-Oghuz country; otk, 𐱃𐰆𐰴𐰕:𐰆𐰍𐰕:𐰉𐰆𐰑𐰣, Toquz Oγuz budun, Tang-era names, with modern Hanyu Pinyin: or ) was a Turkic empire that e ...

. Founded by the Kara-Khanid Khanate in the ninth century, Balasagun soon supplanted

Suyab Suyab ( fa, سوی آب; Middle Chinese: /suʌiH jiᴇp̚/), also known as ''Ordukent'' (modern-day ''Ak-Beshim''), was an ancient Silk Road city located some 50 km east from Bishkek, and 8 km west southwest from Tokmok, in the Chu r ...

as the main political and economical centre of the

; its prosperity declined after the Mongol conquest. The poet

Yūsuf Balasaguni Yusuf Khass Hajib; kk, Жүсіп Баласағұни, Jüsip Balasağunï; ug, يۈسۈپ خاس ھاجىپ; ky, Жусуп Баласагын, Jusup Balasagın; uz, Yusuf Xos Hojib was an 11th-century Central Asian Turkic poet, statesman ...

, known for writing the ''

Kutadgu Bilig The ''Kutadgu Bilig'' or ''Qutadğu Bilig'' (; Middle Turkic: ), is an 11th century work written by Yūsuf Balasaguni for the prince of Kashgar. The text reflects the author's and his society's beliefs, feelings and practices with regard to quite ...

'', is thought to have been born in Balasagun in the 11th century. The city also had a sizable

Nestorian Christian Nestorianism is a term used in Christian theology and Church history to refer to several mutually related but doctrinarily distinct sets of teachings. The first meaning of the term is related to the original teachings of Christian theologian ...

population; one graveyard was still in use in the 14th century. Since the 14th century, Balasagun is a village with plenty of ruins southeast of

Tokmok Tokmok ( ky, Токмок, lit=hammer; russian: Токмак, Tokmak) is a city in the Chüy Valley, northern Kyrgyzstan, east of the country's capital of Bishkek, with a population of 71,443 in 2021. Its elevation is 816 m above sea level. Fro ...

. The Burana zone, located at the edge of

and from the present village of Balasagun, was the west end of the ancient city. It includes the

Burana Tower , native_name_lang = , alternate_name = , image = Burana tower 2009.jpg , image_size = , alt = , caption = Burana tower as of 2012 , map = , map_type = Kyrgyzstan , map_alt = , m ...

and a field of stone

petroglyph A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...

s, the Kurgan stelae. The

Burana Tower , native_name_lang = , alternate_name = , image = Burana tower 2009.jpg , image_size = , alt = , caption = Burana tower as of 2012 , map = , map_type = Kyrgyzstan , map_alt = , m ...

is a minaret built in the 11th century on the ruins of the ancient city Balasagun. It is in height, though when it was first built it topped . Several

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...

s through the centuries caused much damage, and the current building represents a major renovation carried out in the 1970s.

References

{{Authority control Archaeological sites in Kyrgyzstan Populated places along the Silk Road Chüy Region Former populated places in Kyrgyzstan Sogdian cities Destroyed cities