RUDAKI MUSEUM

On Rudaki Street, a one-storey Stalinist building offers a quick summary of the region in half a dozen rooms. The inevitable animaux animal hall, from deer to raptors, is complemented by a cocktail of creeping insects. The following rooms devoted to prehistory, archaeology and ethnology are more attractive. Here you can admire the sogdian frescoes of the old town of Pendjikent. And even if most are reproductions, they allow to discover the finesse of this culture and to colour the dusty ruins of the ancient city. There are illustrations of Fables Fables or Indian tales, scenes of battle where one finds Rustam, the hero of an Iranian epic who will inspire The Book of Kings of Firdawsi. The zoroastriennes, Hindu or Buddhist deities depicted on frescos or on wooden bas-reliefs show the diversity of religions that practiced freely before Islam arrives. Several decorated ossuaries are also exposed, reminiscent of the mortuary ritual of the Zoroastrians. The religion banning the pollution of sacred elements - land, water, air and fire - the bodies of the dead were given to dogs especially high for this purpose, and the most important bones, dried by wind and sun, were locked in the ossuaries.

At the entrance to the museum, the cashier and his acolytes will propose all kinds of souvenirs, stamps, shawls, jewels…