Nurata

The small town Nurata is located in the foothills of the Nuratau Mountains, stretching out hundreds of kilometers from Jizzakh and Barren Steppe to Navoi and Kyzylkum deserts. It is the administrative and cultural center of the mountain area in the Navoi region and is located almost 200 km from Samarkand.

There are a lot of legends related to the origin of the city and its name. People refer to the origin of the city as the fortress Nur, which was founded by Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC. However, according to archeological excavations, the cultural layer in this area reaches the age of 40 thousand years. Supposedly, the main reason to choose this place for settlement was the spring, known as Chashma.

According to legends, many millennia ago a fire rock (probably a meteorite) fell from the sky and a spring of healing water appeared where it hit the ground. By the way, the place’s name is also connected with this legend. Nurata can be translated as “Ray of Father” or as “Ray-father”. The complex Chashma is considered one of the most important Islamic centers in this region. Thousands of believers from neighboring towns as well as from other countries come to visit it every year. The complex consists of Djuma-Mosque (Friday mosque), Qubba, a bathhouse, a hill, that remained after an ancient fortress, and a well with a holy spring. They say that sometimes a strange radiance appears over the spring, confirming the local saying “Allah presented us with Nur (ray)!”

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