Travel Guide Alichur

After the pass from the Col pass to 4 137 m, which seems almost easy, the road takes place like a ribbon through the high desert plateau swept by the winds. Mountains do not appear to be so high, but their summits far exceed 5 000 m, sometimes very violent winds form «girbod», such powerful tourbillons that they can, they say, raise a man of land. But breathtaking landscapes amply justify the fact that the elements…Alichur means the "Ali desert". This high valley in which the river Alichur flows is quite green, but in fact sparsely inhabited. It was reported that trees were growing there and that a large city was flourishing there. Excavations conducted in the s by the Soviet archaeologist Mira Boubnova confirmed this Popular Belief and uncovered a medieval city: Bazar-Bazar. The city, which peaked in the th century, was living in the exploitation of its silver mines and was to be the administrative and commercial centre of the region. She had commercial relations with the cities of the Ferghana Valley and had no doubt to be dominated of the karakhanides lords. Although built at more than 4 000 m, the city was prosperous, possessed many houses, a caravanserai, baths, a temple dedicated to the cult of fire. With regard to the temple, Mira Boubnova points out that his architecture involves a religious ritual involving the Iranian canons and differs from the other temples of the fire of Pamir.A legend tells how to kill this zoroastrian city: a parent Muslim missionary of Ali, along the land of the non-believers, stopped in the town of Bazar-Dara. The inhabitants refused to prepare a dish of meat and chased him. The holy man had to leave the city, in the cold and solitude. He knew how to cook his meat or how to warm up, and prayed. Allah was not insensitive to his prayers and avenged the missionary. By setting up, the sun excited the sky, the sacred fire réchauffa the frozen air, and allowed the man to eat hot, while burning the city of the infidels. An end that recalls that of Penjikent and many other cities in Central Asia where the disciples of Zarathustra or Buddha who did not want to submit to Islam saw their homes disappearing under the ashes. Subsequently, the region was held by Afghan garrisons alternating with the Kyrgyz nomads. It was an ideal base for leaving the villages of the Bartang and Gount valley.