Ensembles2 km away
Hakim Termizi Mosque
A large Friday mosque in Termez opened in 2019, with two 41.5-metre minarets and room for more than 2,000 worshippers.
Termez
Uzbekistan's southernmost city on the Amu Darya, one of the oldest in Central Asia, with Buddhist ruins, early Islamic shrines and the site of Old Termez.
EnsemblesUNESCO World HeritageFounded before the 3rd century BC
About the place
Old Termez, a few kilometres from the modern city on the Amu Darya, was founded before the 3rd century BC. Under the Kushans it became a centre of Buddhism, and the monasteries of Kara-tepe and Fayaz-tepe have given most of the inscriptions known from that age. In the 7th century the traveller Xuanzang counted about ten monasteries and a thousand monks here.
Later Termez produced the hadith scholar al-Tirmidhi and the Sufi master al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi, whose shrine is a major pilgrimage site. Genghis Khan's army destroyed the city in 1220 and it was rebuilt away from the river. Today it is the capital of Surxondaryo region, the hottest city in the country in summer, and the base for visiting the Buddhist and Islamic sites around it.
Why go
- Buddhist monasteries of the Kushan era
- Shrine of al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi
- Ruins of Old Termez on the Amu Darya
Sources (6)
Nearby
- Ensembles
Museums2 km away
Termez Archaeological Museum
The region's main museum, with finds from the Buddhist monasteries, Kushan towns and medieval Termez, displayed in order from the Stone Age onward.
Fortresses5 km away
Kirk-Kiz Fortress
A square early medieval mud-brick building with corner towers outside Termez, whose original purpose is still debated by historians.
Mausoleums5 km away
Sultan Saodat Ensemble
A row of brick mausoleums of the Termez sayyids, built and extended over several centuries around a long courtyard on the edge of the city.