Tash Rabat is a well-preserved 15th-century stone

caravanserai A caravanserai (or caravansary; ) was a roadside inn where travelers ( caravaners) could rest and recover from the day's journey. Caravanserais supported the flow of commerce, information and people across the network of trade routes covering ...

At-Bashy District At-Bashy () is a district of Naryn Region in Kyrgyzstan. The administrative center is at At-Bashy. Its area is , and its resident population was 55,771 in 2021. The mountain lake Chatyr-Kul lies in the southwestern part of the district. Populati ...

Naryn Province Naryn Region ( ky, Нарын облусу, Naryn oblusu; russian: Нарынская область, Narynskaya oblast) is the largest region ('' oblus'') of Kyrgyzstan. It is located in the east of the country and borders with Chüy Region in t ...

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 east. ...

, located at an altitude of .

Geography

Tash Rabat is located somewhat east of the main north-south highway. To the south are Lake Chatyr-Kul and

Torugart Pass Torugart Pass (; ; ) is a mountain pass in the Tian Shan mountain range near the border between the Naryn Region of Kyrgyzstan and the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of China. It is one of two border crossings between Kyrgyzstan and China, the other ...

. To the north is Koshoy Korgon, a ruined fortress of uncertain date. The area is a center for hiking and horse-trekking. The caretakers of Tash Rabat offer horseback riding and lodging in

yurts A yurt (from the Turkic languages) or ger ( Mongolian) is a portable, round tent covered and insulated with skins or felt and traditionally used as a dwelling by several distinct nomadic groups in the steppes and mountains of Central Asia. ...

that are built in the vicinity of the caravanserai from May till September and meals will be also served upon request.

Research

There has been some debate about whether Tash Rabat was originally built as a caravanserai or a temple. As early as 1888, Russian doctor and traveler Nicolay Lvovich Zeland suggested that the site was originally a

Nestorian 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 ...

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

. Research undertaken at the end of the 1970s and beginning of the 1980s by the Institute of History of the

Kyrgyz Academy of Sciences Kyrgyz Academy of Sciences (official name National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan), originally part of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, was established as an independent entity by government decree in December 1993. The aims of t ...

concluded that Tash Rabat was originally built as a Nestorian monastery in the 10th century, although no Christian artifacts were found during excavations. Later it was determined to be a Buddhist monastery as all inscriptions, artifacts and references were found to be Buddhist in nature. This was further supported by the fact that its inhabitants were Buddhist during the period of its construction.

Architecture

The structure consists of 31 rooms, including chambers in the central hall. The rooms are square and topped with domes which have openings for light at the top; transition from a quadrangular frame to a dome is done using a

squinch In architecture, a squinch is a triangular corner that supports the base of a dome. Its visual purpose is to translate a rectangle into an octagon. See also: pendentive. Construction A squinch is typically formed by a masonry arch that spans ...

. Tash Rabat is completely made of rubble stone on clay mortar with

gypsum mortar Mortar is a workable paste which hardens to bind building blocks such as stones, bricks, and concrete masonry units, to fill and seal the irregular gaps between them, spread the weight of them evenly, and sometimes to add decorative colors or pa ...

sealing joints. One of the furthest rooms also has a deep hole in the floor that reminds a well.

References

External links

Photos of Tash Rabat
Archaeological sites in Kyrgyzstan Caravanserais Hotels in Kyrgyzstan {{Central Asian history