Navekat

The ancient city of Navekat.

It is located 36 km east of Bishkek. Here the ruins of the ancient city Navekat (New Town), one of the cities on the Silk Road, have been preserved. Navekat was founded in the 6th century and was a trading center of the ancient Turkish khanates. The northern branch of the Silk Road passed here. It flourished from the 6th to the 12th century.

The city of Navekat has a citadel, two Shahristan ("city" in Arabic) and a suburb.

One of the unique monuments in Navekat is a large painted granite sculpture of a "sleeping" Buddha. The sculpture was 12 m, but we have, for the moment, found that its half.

The most common religion among citizens in Navekat was Zoroastrianism, but with some specific characteristics of local worship.

From the second half of the 12th century Navekat began to decline and at the start of the Mongol conquests it was completely destroyed.