Sarakhs
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Sarakhs ( fa, سرخس, Saraxs, also
Romanize Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...
d as Serakhs) is a city in
Sarakhs County Sarakhs County ( fa, شهرستان سرخس) is in Razavi Khorasan province, Iran. The capital of the county is the city of Sarakhs Sarakhs ( fa, سرخس, Saraxs, also Romanized as Serakhs) is a city in Sarakhs County, Razavi Khorasan Pro ...
, Razavi Khorasan Province,
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
. Sarakhs was once a stopping point 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 reli ...
, and in its 11th century heyday had many libraries. Much of the original city site is now just across the border at
Serakhs Sarahs (, also written Saraghs, Serahs, Sarakhs, Saragt, or Serakhs, the last a backformation of russian: Серахс) is an oasis city in Ahal Province, Turkmenistan, and the administrative center of Sarahs district ( tk, Sarahs etraby). It is ...
in Turkmenistan. According to the most recent national census, in 2006, the city's population was 33,571 in 8,066 families.


History

Several
battles A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...
were fought in this area. According to
Ferdowsi Abul-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi ( fa, ; 940 – 1019/1025 CE), also Firdawsi or Ferdowsi (), was a Persians, Persian poet and the author of ''Shahnameh'' ("Book of Kings"), which is one of the world's longest epic poetry, epic poems created by a sin ...
's
Shahnameh The ''Shahnameh'' or ''Shahnama'' ( fa, شاهنامه, Šāhnāme, lit=The Book of Kings, ) is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c. 977 and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50,00 ...
the town has existed since the
Afrasiab Afrasiab ( fa, ''afrāsiyāb''; ae, Fraŋrasyan; Middle-Persian: ''Frāsiyāv, Frāsiyāk'') is the name of the mythical king and hero of Turan. He is the main antagonist of the Persian epic Shahnameh, written by Ferdowsi. The mythical king ...
period and was named for its builder, Sarakhs, son of Godarz, by Keykavus. The surrounding oasis has been inhabited since 2nd millennium BCE and Turkmen historians consider the city to have been founded in 507
BCE Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...
. Although this is considered to be a somewhat arbitrary choice of date, the section of the city called
Sarahs Sarahs (, also written Saraghs, Serahs, Sarakhs, Saragt, or Serakhs, the last a backformation of russian: Серахс) is an oasis city in Ahal Province, Turkmenistan, and the administrative center of Sarahs district ( tk, Sarahs etraby). It is ...
that's now on the Turkmenistan side of the border, duly celebrated its 2500th anniversary in 1993. The
Mongols The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal membe ...
plundered and destroyed Sarakhs in 1221 AD. In the Seljuk Era a famous school of architects was located in Old Sarakhs, and the region retains the tombs of three major 11th-century figures, two on the Turkmenistan side of today's border (those of Abul Fazl, and the 1089 Yarty Gumbez, mausoleum of Sheikh Ahmed Al Khady) and the impressive
Tomb of Baba Loghman The Tomb of Baba Loghman in Sarakhs is the site of the Loghman Sorakhi burial. The building is thought to be the ceremonial tomb of Sufi mystic Babalqaman Sarakhsi. As well as a tall dome there are two brick enclosing walls and a long porch. On the ...
on the Iranian side. All were significantly rebuilt in the mid-19th century by the order of
Nasser-al-Din Shah Naser al-Din Shah Qajar ( fa, ناصرالدین‌شاه قاجار; 16 July 1831 – 1 May 1896) was the fourth Shah of Qajar Iran from 5 September 1848 to 1 May 1896 when he was assassinated. He was the son of Mohammad Shah Qajar and Malek ...
of the
Qajar dynasty The Qajar dynasty (; fa, دودمان قاجار ', az, Qacarlar ) was an IranianAbbas Amanat, ''The Pivot of the Universe: Nasir Al-Din Shah Qajar and the Iranian Monarchy, 1831–1896'', I. B. Tauris, pp 2–3 royal dynasty of Turkic peoples ...
, who also rebuilt the current Iranian-side town .


Industries and Mines

The most important industries in this city are the industries related to the extraction, refining and storage of gas, oil and sulfur resources which is rich. Aq Darband coal mine, which is now inactive after falling and killing and injuring several workers. The sand mines in the area of
Qush-e Azim Qush-e Azim ( fa, قوش عظيم, also Romanized as Qūsh-e ‘Az̧īm) is a village in Tajan Rural District, in the Central District of Sarakhs County, Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, ...
are also operating.


Geography

Sarakhs weather is cold in winter, warm and dry in summer thanks to the influence of the
Karakum Desert The Karakum Desert, also spelled Kara-Kum and Gara-Gum ( tk, Garagum, ; rus, Караку́мы, Karakumy, kərɐˈkumɨ), is a desert in Central Asia. Its name in Turkic languages means "black sand": "" means sand; "" is a contraction of : "d ...
. On July 7, 2021, the record high temperature of was registered. Sarakhs city, with an area of more than 5,000 square kilometers, is located in the northeast of Khorasan Razavi province, next to the border between Iran and the Republic of Turkmenistan, 180 kilometers east of
Mashhad Mashhad ( fa, مشهد, Mašhad ), also spelled Mashad, is the List of Iranian cities by population, second-most-populous city in Iran, located in the relatively remote north-east of the country about from Tehran. It serves as the capital of R ...
. It is located approximately between the meridians 30 to 60 and 15 to 61 degrees east and between the two orbits 36 and 36 to 40 degrees north. The natural boundary of the region to the south is determined by the Kashfarud River, the eastern boundary by the Tajan River (from the confluence of the Hariroud River and the Kashfar River), and the natural western and southwestern boundaries by the last extensions of the Kopeh Dagh heights. It is bounded on the north and east by the Republic of Turkmenistan, on the west by the city of Mashhad, and on the south by the city of
Torbat-e Jam Torbat-e Jawm ( fa, تربت جام, Torbat-e Jām; also known as Torbat-e Sheykh Jām and Turbat-i-Shaikh Jam) is a city and capital of Torbat-e Jam County, in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. At the 2016 census, its population was 100,449. Torb ...
. The weather in Sarakhs has been mild and dry in the past With the expansion of
irrigated agriculture Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow Crop, crops, Landscape plant, landscape plants, and Lawn, lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,00 ...
and the intake of “ Dousti dam”. And now, during the summer months, even in spring, the maximum temperature is 50 degrees above zero and the lowest in winter is 15 degrees below zero.


Landmarks

The main historical site of Sarakhs is the partly restored Loghman Baba mausoleum in a field just north of the town. It was built in 1356AD (757AH). In Sarakhs district within 80 km of Sarakhs town are: * Bazangan lake * Mazdavand cave and reservoir *
Iran–Turkmenistan Friendship Dam The Iran–Turkmenistan Friendship Dam or Doosti Reservoir Dam (, ) is a dam on the Hari River (Hariroud), which forms part of the international boundary between Iran and Turkmenistan ( Iran-Turkmenistan border). The dam was completed in 2004, ...
* Ribat Sharaf Caravanserai * Khatun Bridge (five-arched stone bridge between Iran and Turkmenistan) *
Tomb of Baba Loghman The Tomb of Baba Loghman in Sarakhs is the site of the Loghman Sorakhi burial. The building is thought to be the ceremonial tomb of Sufi mystic Babalqaman Sarakhsi. As well as a tall dome there are two brick enclosing walls and a long porch. On the ...
* Sarakhs Special Economic Zone


Transport

More than a century after the early proposals of a cross-border railway at this location, the railways of
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
and
Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...
were finally linked here in 1996. A
bogie exchange Bogie exchange is a system for operating railway wagons on two or more gauges to overcome difference in the track gauge. To perform a bogie exchange, a car is converted from one gauge to another by removing the bogies or trucks (the chassis cont ...
is needed to overcome a
break of gauge With railways, a break of gauge occurs where a line of one track gauge (the distance between the rails, or between the wheels of trains designed to run on those rails) meets a line of a different gauge. Trains and rolling stock generally cannot ...
. This will be supplemented with a quicker
SUW 2000 SUW 2000 is a Polish variable gauge system that allows trains to cross a break of gauge. It is interoperable with the German Rafil Type V system (built by the Radsatzfabrik Ilsenburg). History The SUW 2000 system was designed by Ryszard Suwalski. ...
variable gauge A variable gauge system allows railway vehicles in a train to travel across a break of gauge between two railway networks with different track gauges. For through operation, a train must be equipped with special bogies holding variable gauge whe ...
axles track gauge changing facility (TSR).Предусматривается использование подвижного состава с изменяемой колеёй типа SUW2000 (rus)
/ref>


References

{{Portal, Iran Populated places in Sarakhs County Cities in Razavi Khorasan Province Iran–Turkmenistan border crossings Nishapur Quarter Populated places along the Silk Road