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Kunya-Urgench

Turkmenistan
Date of Inscription: 2005
Criteria: (ii)(iii)
Dashoguz Vilayet (Province)
N42 23 18.0 E59 16 14.0
Ref: 1199

Brief Description

Kunya-Urgench is situated in north-western Turkmenistan, on the left bank of the Amu Daria River. Urgench was the capital of the Khorezm region, part of the Achaemenid Empire. The old town contains a series of monuments mainly from the 11th to 16th centuries, including a mosque, the gates of a caravanserai, fortresses, mausoleums and a 60-m high minaret. The monuments testify to outstanding achievements in architecture and craftsmanship whose influence reached Iran and Afghanistan, and later the architecture of the Mogul Empire of 16th-century India.