Monuments to visit Ellik Kala

Perched on a hill, the walls of Chilpik Kala dominate the desert steppe. Before being a citadel, it was mainly a tower of silence: a place where the dead were deposited according to Zoroastrian rites. The corpses decomposed in the open air, and only the bones were then recovered by relatives. It was built between the 2nd and 4th centuries, but was still used in the following centuries. The site can be visited if you go to Noukous, from which it is perfectly visible, on the left side of the road.

Of this fortified city dating from the ^IXth-XIVth centuries there remain imposing sections of wall and part of the apartments of the dekhan. Like immense sculptures, they stand in the immensity of the banks of Amu Darya, dominating the desert on one side and the forest of Bala Tugai on the other. In section, we can appreciate the construction technique of the walls, made of earth and bricks between which were placed layers of straw. A solidity which did not save the citadel from destruction, but which allows its ruins to still stand seven centuries later. If you go there in August, you might be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the citadel's sole occupants: eagles nesting between wooden poles protruding from the walls. The primary purpose of these poles was to hang the condemned. This is a truly beautiful desolation, which inspired the sculptor Joldasbek Kumimuratov, the most famous artist of Karakalpakia and Savitsky's companion, who wished to turn it into a city of artists. Dreams are what they are, and the ruins remained abandoned. If you pass someone in the fortress, ask about the black rock outcropping behind the walls in the center of the citadel. According to knowledgeable observers, it grows year by year to a thickness of about five fingers apart. One of the mysteries of the desert... Anyway, Djampik kala is certainly one of the most beautiful of all the citadels and deserves the detour to reach it.

A first site surrounded by sections of wall is called Little Gouldoursoun. The great Gouldoursoun is 10 km away. The fortresses controlled and protected the irrigation canals. A legend tells how the daughter of the dekhan who ruled the city fell in love with one of the enemies who were besieging the city and how she betrayed her own people by letting the army enter the walls. The unfortunate woman was then abandoned by her lover and the city fell into the hands of the enemies. The same legend is told in Mizdakhan, the ancient city near Nukus.