Cemeteries and memorials to visit Khorezm Area

The Biruni Bridge leads to the eponymous town, 15 kilometres north-east of Urgentch, and is named after the encyclopaedist Al-Biruni (973-1050), who was born there. Few drivers know this, but you can go and see his tomb on the right a little after crossing the bridge, a stone's throw from the ruins of Xat Kala. The body of the great Muslim scholar who, 600 years before Galileo, claimed that the earth could only be spherical in shape, lies in the shelter of a small octagonal mausoleum.

Go up to the monument to the Aral Sea. From this height, you can see what was once a sea, which the catastrophe has turned into a new desert, covering an area of more than 40,000 km². In fact, it is not even possible to see the "sea" anymore, which is now a mere puddle located 200 km from Moynaq. The wrecks, once scattered in this desert infinity, were in 2008 all gathered and lined up at the foot of the monument where they lay on the dunes rusty spots. In fact, there is not much left of the fishing vessels that once plied the Aral Sea: cannibalized to reinforce the roofs and fences of houses when the city was deserted, they now only offer the sad spectacle of decaying ship skeletons. The sand itself is littered with grains of rust, pieces of gnawed steel plates, ropes, old cans... Coming down from the monument and crossing the city, we arrive at the old cannery where everything has remained as it was since the closure in 1993, due to the lack of fish. The machines, rusted to the bone, seem to be stopped in their tracks, empty cans are waiting to be filled, safety instructions are still posted on the walls. It's barely damaged, as if the disaster had struck not long ago, the sea had suddenly receded and the production line had simply been shut down. A science fiction or horror movie setting.

This immense necropolis, more than two thousand years old, houses mainly Muslim tombs, but also Nestorian tombs as crosses were found engraved on some of the buildings. Most of the mausoleums are in ruins, some have been summarily renovated, such as those of Khalif Erdjep and Bugar Jumart Kassab, while others are waiting for the government to release a budget to resume work. The mausoleum of Nazlimkhan, built in the 14th century, is half buried underground. A must-see visit on the road to Nukus!