Dangara district is located in Khatlon region. Recently, it has been announced as the city, when the new university was built. There are more than 20 conservancy areas more than 100 types of birds and animals.
Norak is a city in the Khatlon province of Tajikistan
It is situated on the Vakhsh River, 885 m above sea level, and is 70 km southeast of Dushanbe, the capital. It has a population of 19,000. The city was founded on the site of the former village of Norak, whose name means “pomegranate” in Tajik language; the modern city was established in 1960 to support the construction of nearby Norak Dam, which was completed in 1980. Engineers, construction workers, bureaucrats and their families were housed in orderly apartment blocks. However, in recent years, Norak, whose name means “pomegranate” in Tajik language, has become a popular resort town. Many hotels, guesthouses, restaurants, and tourist services have appeared. Most guests arrive from Dushanbe and southern Tajikistan, attracted by the stunning mountain views, fresh air, and serene and scenic reservoir. The town is especially beautiful at night, when it is lit up by thousands of lights and sunsets are also other-worldly, due to the unique combination of alpine scenery and the vast, calm reservoir.
Norak, whose name means “pomegranate” in Tajik language, has become a popular resort town
Many hotels, guesthouses, restaurants, and tourist services have appeared. Most guests arrive from Dushanbe and southern Tajikistan, attracted by the stunning mountain views, fresh air, and serene and scenic reservoir. The town is especially beautiful at night, when it is lit up by thousands of lights and sunsets are also other-worldly, due to the unique combination of alpine scenery and the vast, calm reservoir.
The palace was richly decorated: the walls and ceilings were covered with wall paintings showing warriors, musicians, and musical instruments as well as alabaster carving in the form of vegetative and geometrical patterns, Arabian inscriptions, images of fishes and mythical animals.
In 1952 the archeologists started the exploration of a place near Kurgan Tube named Khisht-Tepa (” the Brick Hill”). Presumably there had to be the site of the “vanished” medieval capital. The entire area (about 70 hectares) abounded with pieces of pottery and glass, ceramic and metal slag, and fragments of burnt bricks. According to historians, Hulbuk’s structures were made from these materials.
The further excavation proved that it was on this hill, in the center of Hulbuk, where the palace of the local ruler used to stand. The inspection of the remains of the citadel which was a part of the palace revealed that it stood on an even platform; its walls were made of mud bricks and tiled with burnt ones. The palace consisted of big rectangular rooms and long wide corridors. The parquet0like floors were laid with burnt bricks. The palace was richly decorated: the walls and ceilings were covered with wall paintings showing warriors, musicians, and musical instruments as well as alabaster carving in the form of vegetative and geometrical patterns, Arabian inscriptions, images of fishes and mythical animals.
The further excavations revealed that under the palace, dated the 11th century, there are some earlier structures which means that the palace was constructed on the debris of another. It was also found that in the ancient city there were a sewer, water and heating systems with brick ducts and ceramic pipes. The rooms were heated by means of big jugs, khums, dug into the floor. A jug filled with hot wood coal gradually heated the floor. One of the significant finds in Khuttal’ were huge Hulbuk ivory chess figures that archaeologists found 20 intact and 8 half-destroyed ones.
Located 12 km from Kurgan Tube is the district named by local inhabitants as Ajina Teppa. It can be translated as «the Devil’s hill”, “the Hill of Evil Spirit”. Probably such an attitude to this place among the local residents was caused by the unattractiveness of this place surrounded from three sides by aryks, thick undergrowths, bumps and pits.
It came out as a surprise when archeological excavations which started in 1961 resulted in 500,000 artifacts: sculptures, reliefs, wall painting fragments of a uniform complex of dwelling and cult rooms belonging to the 7th – 8th-century Buddhist monastery.
The archeologists determined that the monastery in Ajina Teppa consisted of two parts (the temple and monastery), two rectangular yards surrounded by buildings and strong walls. One of yards had the Greater mortar (a construction for storage of relics or for marking of sacred places). In the yard’s corners there were Smaller mortars of the same form as the Greater one. The monastery was richly decorated; its walls and vaults were covered with paintings. The walls had niches were both small and bigger statues of the Buddha used to stand (his image prevailed in Ajina Teppa sculptures).
But the most sensational find in Ajina Teppa became a huge clay statue of the Buddha in nirvana found in 1966 in one of the monastery corridors. Only the bottom part of the figure, from waste to soles, was intact. The upper part of the sculpture turned out to be badly damaged. All other fragments of the sculpture were found separately. The restoration of the statue started in the same year and lasted until 1978. After that the work stopped and didn’t begin until 2000.
Today the sculpture “The Buddha in nirvana” is exhibited at the National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan in Dushanbe. That is the biggest sculpture of the Buddha found on territory of modern Central Asia.
The city of Kulob was born 2,700 years ago and for many centuries was an important political, commercial and economic and cultural center of the vast Khatlon area. The city stood on one of the Great Silk way branches and had close trade and economic and cultural links with many Oriental and Western countries.
During the Middle Ages, the city of Kulob was an important political, economic and cultural center. A plenty of maktabs (schools) and madrasah (higher educational institutions) worked there. Various crafts and trades were developed there; literary and scientific clubs were very popular. In the 17th -19th centuries 40 poets lived and created their works. The most known of them were Nasekh (AbdurakhmonKhodzha), KhodzhiKhusainiKangurti, Bismil, Shokhin, etc. The remains of structures and mausoleums testify about the highly developed culture of architecture and construction. At the beginning of the 20th century, Kulob was the largest city in Eastern Bukhara and had 20 blocks. Various kinds of crafts, including weaving (high-quality silk fabrics: brocade, alochi, kurtachi, Suzane), jeweler business, pottery and tanning production, joinery and production of knives, horse harnesses, armor and other metal products were highly developed. In city had flourishing commerce, marketplaces. Kulyab was famous for its embroideries (gulduzi and chakan) which are distinguished by unique forms and colorings. For the first time, the name of Kulyab was mentioned in the 13th century.
Mir Said Ali Hamadoni (the 14th-17ht centuries), Kulob Right in the center of Kulyab in the park zone with centuries-old plane trees stands the memorial complex of Mir Said Ali Hamadoni – the poet, philosopher, and thinker of the 14th century.
His son Muhammad, numerous relatives, as well as Shaikh ShokhiTolikoni from Afghan city Tolukan, the former inspector of the mausoleum and the mosque, are also buried there. The building of the mausoleum is a traditional medieval structure. Originally it had three portal entrances with a domed hall decorated with the carved decor. This structure is dated late 14th century. Later the mosque and the tomb were added to it. In the 1970s the mausoleum was restored. During the restoration works the masters tried to preserve the mausoleum in the shape it had existed for the previous five centuries. They finally managed to do it. Near the mausoleum, there is one more marble gravestone with inscriptions in Arabian and Persian languages and decorated with a geometrical ornament. It is written on the western side of the gravestone that there the son of Khatlon ruler, Amir Muhammad bin Shah Abdulla, was buried. The rectangular tombstone weighs about a ton. The legend says that it was delivered to Kulyab from India on elephants. Today the mausoleum is a place of pilgrimage of the local population and numerous visitors.
Vakhsh is one of the main and widest rivers in Tajikistan and Central Asia with unique species of fish.
The Vakhsh River, in north-central Tajikistan, is a Central Asian river, and one of the main rivers in Tajikistan. It is a tributary of the Amu Darya River. It is a very important source of water, not only to Tajikistan but as one of the largest tributaries of the Amu-Darya, supplies huge amounts of water used in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan for agricultural purposes. The river flows through the very mountainous territory, which frequently restricts the river’s flow to narrow channels within deep gorges.There are recreational zones along the river; included fishing, recreation on the huge Norak reservoir, and a few adventurous kayakers and rafters and organized tourist services.
Norak Dam built in 1980 on the Vakhsh River 75 km east of Tajikistan’s capital Dushanbe. It is currently the tallest dam in the world with the highest point located 310 m above its basement. The mound volume is 54 mln m3. The collected waters rotate nine hydroelectric turbines and produce most of Tajikistan’s 4.0 GW hydroelectric generating capacity, which meets 98% of the nation’s electricity needs.
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