Afrasiyab Site & Museum

Afrosiyob

The mound of an ancient city 2,500 years old. The museum holds the 7th-century Sogdian 'Hall of Ambassadors' murals, which depict envoys from Tang China and Turkic khans.

Afrasiyab is the predecessor of Samarkand. It is a mound of about 220 hectares where Maracanda, the capital of the Sogdians, once stood. It lies northeast of today's city. The site flourished from the 7th century BCE until it was destroyed by Mongol forces in 1220 and abandoned. The city was later rebuilt to the south, and the old town became a rolling landscape of yellow earth mounds. Traces of city walls and palaces can still be seen, and a French-Uzbek joint archaeological team is still excavating here. The Afrasiyab Museum, built in 1970 on the edge of the site, is the key to understanding Silk Road Samarkand. Its treasure is the 'Hall of Ambassadors' murals from the palace of the 7th-century Sogdian king Varkhuman, found in 1965. The four walls show envoys from different countries coming to pay tribute. One of them shows a Chinese envoy holding silk and silkworm cocoons. Other scenes show Emperor Gaozong of Tang hunting leopards in a park, Empress Wu Zetian on a dragon boat, and themes involving the Turks and India. These are direct visual evidence of contact between the Sogdians and the Tang dynasty. The museum has multilingual video guides. Other exhibits include ossuaries from Zoroastrian burial practice, pottery and coins. Entry for foreigners is about 40,000 som (about 25 yuan). Opening hours are 09:00 to 18:00. The mound itself is free, and you can walk up behind the museum to look over the city. It lies between Siyob and the Ulugh Beg Observatory and is a 10 to 15-minute walk from either. Allow 45 minutes for the museum and 30 minutes for the mound. For Chinese visitors, this is the stop in Samarkand with the strongest sense of connection. Note that the mound has no paths or shade, so wear sturdy shoes and bring water.

Afrasiyab Site & Museum

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