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Balalyk Tepe

The mound of a small fortified Hephthalite-era manor north of Termez, where archaeologists found wall paintings of a princely banquet.

Archaeology5th–7th century

About the place

Balalyk Tepe is the site of a small castle that stood alone on a six-metre platform of rammed earth, about 13 km north of medieval Termez. It was built around the 5th–6th century, belonged to a noble family of the Hephthalite period and was later rebuilt with a group of large decorated halls.

Those halls held murals of men and women feasting in rich robes and jewellery, dated to roughly the 6th to early 7th century and counted among the oldest large painted cycles in Central Asia. Today the visitor sees an earth mound in farmland; the value of a stop is in standing where this art was found.

Why go

  • Find site of early medieval banquet murals
  • A castle mound in the Surkhandarya plain
  • An easy add-on to a day around Termez

Sources (3)

  1. 1.Wikidata
  2. 2.en.wikipedia.org
  3. 3.ru.wikipedia.org

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