Tours on Tower Burana.

"Balasagun - from the cities of Turkestanzamin, known (under the name) Mogolistan, before the Mongol invasion was with a purely Muslim population. Many scientists came from it".

Mahmud ibn Wali. XVII century.

Travel across Kyrgyzstan.

Architectural and archaeological complex Burana Tower is located at an altitude of 938 meters above sea level, is located 12 kilometers south of city of Tokmak, on territory of ruins of Burana settlement in Chui district of region of same name.
In 1976, an open-air archaeological and architectural complex was organized on the basis of the ruins of the Burana settlement. The territory of the complex is 36 hectares of ruins of the ancient city. Many years of painstaking research by historians and archaeologists give reason to believe that the settlement is the ruins of the ancient city of Balasagyn - the capital of the Karakhanid Khaganate.
Archaeological discoveries of recent years have introduced information about a group of architectural monuments on the settlement into scientific circulation Burana. Until 1970, the minaret, located in the southeastern part of the Chui Valley, at the foot of the Kyrgyz Ala-Too ridge, was mentioned in literature. It was well known to the entire local population as "Burana".
Among the Russian population and in literature, it was called "Burana Tower". The name of the minaret is given to a shallow river, once a tributary of the Chu River, on the left bank of which it is located, as well as a large settlement (on the fields of the Burana and Alchalu collective farms).
12 kilometers to the northeast of the settlement is the modern city of Tokmak, to the south is the Shamsi gorge, famous for its remarkable finds of jewelry from the first centuries of our era, abounding in nomadic monuments. In the Middle Ages, a caravan route to the Kochkor Valley passed through this gorge. 6 kilometers to the northwest of the minaret lie the ruins of the Ak-Beshim (Ak-Peshin) settlement.
In Kyrgyz folk tales, the minaret appears as a tower, a burial vault, a watchtower, but its true purpose has been forgotten. According to legends, this tower was allegedly built by a powerful ruler named Arslan Khan who once lived here for his only son (or the youngest son who survived), to whom oracles predicted death from a black widow bite.
In the hope of saving the life of the heir to the khan's throne, the boy and his mother were settled at the very top of the tower so that no evil spirits could penetrate their chambers. But the black widow, who nevertheless brought death to the son (as well as to his older brothers), was accidentally brought in by a servant in a basket of berries.
According to other versions, the only daughter of Arslan Khan appears in the legend. She was protected not only from the black widow, but also from the gaze of annoying suitors. After the death of the beauty, which resulted from the bite of a poisonous insect, the khan buried his daughter in the same tower where she had previously lived.
Thus, the legend contains a hint of the Burana "tower" as a burial vault of a person of royal blood. The name "Burana" most likely comes from the incorrectly pronounced word "monara", that is, a minaret. On the territory of the architectural and archaeological complex Burana Tower there is a small museum consisting of two halls.
Currently, the height of the fortress walls reaches 3 - 4 meters, and in the first years of construction, as archaeologists assume, they reached about 8-10 meters. In this museum, the main monument is the Burana Tower itself. In addition, the museum has many different exhibits, for example, drawings of various animals on stone, made in the VIth - IVth centuries BC, stone monuments depicting sculptures of Turks of the VIth - Xth centuries, etc.
Geographic coordinates architectural and archaeological museum Burana: N42°44'49 E75°15'01

Authority:
V. D. Goryacheva. "Medieval urban centers and architectural ensembles of Kyrgyzstan (Burana, Uzgen, Safid-Bulan)". Popular science essay publishing house "Ilim". Frunze. 1983. Academy of Sciences of the Kirghiz SSR. Institute of History.

Photos:
Alexander Petrov.