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Sacred mountain added to World Heritage List

by Sean McLachlan (RSS feed) on Nov 12th 2009 at 12:30PM

UNESCO has just made the latest addition to its World Heritage List--Suleiman Mountain in the Central Asian Republic of Kyrgyzstan.

This is Kyrgyzstan's first World Heritage Site. The mountain has been a holy spot for thousands of years. Prehistoric rock art shows it was sacred long before Islam came to the region. When the new faith took over it became a focus for Muslim pilgrims. Sick people sit in the caves on the mountainside hoping to be cured, and there's a natural rock slide that women use to promote fertility. Kids slide down it too, supposedly to make them grow up healthy, but judging from this video it looks like they're having too much fun to think about that. There's an interesting slide show of the mountain here.

There are seventeen places of worship on the mountain, including a reconstruction of a medieval mosque. The original was destroyed by the Soviets in an effort to stamp out religion in the region. Judging from the thousands of pilgrims who go to Suleiman Mountain every year, they didn't achieve much.

The mountain is right next to the 3,000 year-old city of Osh, a stop on the old Silk Road, so adventure travelers following this increasingly popular route will want to stop off and see this.

Filed under: Arts and Culture, History, Festivals and Events, Asia, Kyrgyzstan, News

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Jennifer @ Approach Guides Nov 12th 2009 2:46PM

This is big news for Kyrgyzstan; UNESCO World Heritage Sites bring in a lot of tourists and money. Interestingly, there are many religious cave sites along the Silk Road, one of our favorites is the Mogao cave site near Dunhuang (China).

Jamie Rhein Nov 13th 2009 2:17AM

This site sounds splendid. Thanks for the heads up!

Randall Kelley Nov 12th 2009 11:04PM

We were here on a trip through the "Stans" a few years ago. The mountain was a fun visit, and Osh is a nice place to stop over. The people of the region are so friendly and there is so much to see, that I heartily encourage anyone with the means to plan a trip to the area.

There is a shot from the top of the mountain on our blog here:
http://www.rubbercow.com/travel-log/?p=11

Or read about the whole trip by starting there and checking the archives for August and September 2006. An overview is on the page:
http://www.rubbercow.com/travel-log/?page_id=2

Randall Kelley

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