Nothing symbolises Konye Urgench more than the Kutlug-Timur Minaret, a 62-metre brick-built tower that was once the tallest minaret in the world. Visible from a huge distance, it draws and lures you to find out what it is. In fact, that was its purpose even when it was first built back in the 11 th century, for it was not only a minaret but also a lighthouse; a beacon whose purpose was not to warn of danger but to show weary caravans the direction to safety. In modern times, riding a ship of the desert that’s more likely to be a Landcruiser than a camel, a traveller will arrive at the base of this architectural marvel to find that they have been lured by the sirens of the past. There is no thronging mosque. There are no markets.There are no places to rest your weary head. Konye Urgench is empty.In common with most other great ancient cities, Konye Urgench owed its existence and success to its geography, of which the key component was its river, the Oxus/Amu Darya. With its source in the mountains and snowfields of the Pamirs, the Oxus provided a reliable supply of water, and with water, irrigation was possible. Making the most of long hours of sun and warmth, along with the fertile silt that had accumulated for hundreds of thousands of years, crops thrived. The surplus of food that any civilisation needs was assured. Indeed, the whole surrounding area, comprised of the delta channels of the Oxus delta as it spilled its way across the lowlands towards the Aral Sea, was green and prosperous. This was the prosperous delta oasis region called Khwarezm. The wider geography of the location was also an asset.
Konye Urgench existed at the crossing of two major caravan routes: a north-south route from Persia to Russia and an east-west route between China and the Byzantine Empire. To the south lay the desert of Kara Kum, or Black Sand; to the east there were the red sands of the Kyzyl Kum; to the west was the desiccated Usturt Plateau. To the caravans, these were the formidable barriers that only enhanced the feeling of paradise of Konye Urgench.
With agriculture and trade came wealth, culture and influence. Konye Urgench was described as “the capital of a thousand wise men” and it was home to some of Persia’s most influential thinkers, including Al-Biruni and Avicenna. In the year 1220 CE, the geographer Yaqut al- Hamawi wrote, “There is hardly a town in the world comparable to the capital of Khwarezm for its riches and metropolitan grandeur … all the while there is general security and undisturbed peace.” Little did he know that a year later, this peace would be shattered. Prosperous places have the tendency to become the focus of invaders, and it was in 1221
that Genghis Khan raided and destroyed much of the city in what is considered to be one of the bloodiest massacres in history. His tactics included not only the usual pillage but also attacks on the irrigation system, including the destruction of the upstream wooden dam that had been in place since the 10 th century. The result was a devastating flood, followed by a change in the fragile equilibrium in the hydrology of the Oxus, leading to a change in its course that would gradually become more pronounced over the following centuries.
Initially on its knees, the city rebuilt its irrigation from the more distant river and gradually grew once more in the period of stability that the Mongol invasion initiated, with Turks replacing Persians. Its revival was so successful that it was described by Ibn Battuta as the ‘largest among the cities of the Turks, with broad streets and splendid bazaars’. The 13 th century Persian historian Ala al-Din al-Juvayni wrote that Konye Urgench remained "the throne of the Sultans of the world and the dwelling place of the celebrities of mankind.” This was not to last, for Khwarezm was not a willing supplicant to the 14 th century regional leader, Amir Timur. Tired of uprisings, resistance and disrespect, along with the unwanted competition to Samarkand, Timur attacked Konye Urgench. He levelled the city and destroyed the irrigation system once more. This proved to be too much for the city to rebuild itself. With its irrigation system in disarray and an Oxus River that was cutting a channel
increasingly further to the northeast, people started deserting it. By the 17 th century, the city had been fully abandoned, and a new Urgench had been built 30 kilometres to the northeast; a place that is today inside the border of Uzbekistan. This was when the ghost city became known as Konye (Old) Urgench.
Repeated sudden destruction and then gradual abandonment have meant that Konye Urgench is once more – and probably permanently – what one visitor called it in the wake of the Mongol invasion: “The abode of the jackal and the haunt of the owl and kite.” It certainly has a haunted feel, but what adds to the mysterious beauty are the isolated architectural marvels that rise into a deep blue sky from the parched dusty plain.
From the base of the lighthouse minaret, the modern visitor will see other structures rising from the scrubby arid plane. One is the Il Arslan Mausoleum, a structure with a 12-sided glazed turquoise dome that was spared by both Genghis Khan and Timur. A mere stub shows where the Mamun II Minaret once stood: first destroyed by the Mongols, then rebuilt, then toppled amid the deserted city by an earthquake in 1895. There’s a grand and mysterious gate too, which may be known as the Caravanserai Gate, but its true function is unknown. There are other island-like structures everywhere, but for indescribable beauty in a crumbling frame, the pick of the bunch is the Turabek Khanum Mausoleum. Thought to date from the late 14th century, it is exquisitely proportioned, making exact use of the repeated division or multiplication of the number twelve, probably inspired by the months of the zodiacal calendar. The interior domed roof is a stunning depiction of the idealised heavens, radiating outwards in geometric formality from a dark central rosette to repeated vivid gold, white and blue stars and skies. When you venture outside and look back, you appreciate that the mgnificence of the interior dome of the Turabek Khanum Mausoleum is a metaphor for Konye Urgench as a whole. The outer dome collapsed long ago, but the inner beauty steadfastly remains for those who are adventurous enough to find it.