Caravans are icons of the Silk Roads: long lines of camels and horses carrying trade goods across the deserts, accompanied by merchants on foot. The pictures might look romantic, but these journeys were harsh. And though the camel on a sand dune may be the first thing which comes to mind, many of the most-trodden trade routes followed rivers, including the Oxus River.
The ruins of caravanserais are dotted along the Silk Roads, but one of the best preserved examples is Dayakhatyn in Turkmenistan. It was built by the Seljuks in the 12th century and still stands almost intact, overlooking the Oxus in the distance.
Caravanserais were the motels of their time. They were located a day’s walk apart so that travelers could be confident that they would always have somewhere to stay, get water and a meal, and get information about the road ahead. Around one in five caravanserais was fortified: these were larger, better defended establishments where merchants could stop, unpack and repack their wares in safety. Dayakhatyn is one of these fortified caravanserais, a strong castle wall surrounding the central part.
Dayakhatyn is right beside the Turkmen-Uzbek before, past the compound used by the Turkmen border guards. They’ve even had to add a dogleg to the border fence to enable civilians to visit this extraordinary historic site.
The first thing I noticed at Dayakhatyn was how much of the structure survives. The US Ambassador’s Fund has done some work to stabilise the portal and reconstruct its roof, but the Ministry of Culture has a general policy of conserving but not rebuilding ancient monuments. This means that most of what you see is original, just cleaned up and made structurally sound. The patterned brickwork decorating the front of the caravanserais has barely changed in 900 years, and as you walk through the cloisters with their barrel-vaulted ceilings, it is as if you have stepped back in time.
All around the courtyard there are small cells, rooms for sleeping and eating. In fact, the layout is very similar to that of a Buddhist monastery or Islamic madrassa. The largest and grandest of these rooms is at the back of the courtyard, opposite the main entrance. This is where the caravanserai’s owner lived in luxury, beneath a now-collapsed cupola. He must have been a wealthy man, and the caravanserai he built is a remarkable legacy.