Published on : Thursday, September 5, 2019
“Uzbekistan was a crossroads of empires and different religions. In those ancient days Zoroastrianism was the dominant religion, but to here Alexander brought the Hellenistic pantheon of gods. Buddhism spread from India to China and Japan by passing through our lands and later Islam arrived. All these beliefs have left their mark and lived in harmony shoulder to shoulder up to the present day,” Abdukhakimov said.
Uzbekistan has been a near-pariah condition for the last two decades. Under the rule of Islam Karimov, the shutters came down, until his death in late 2016, since when, under successor Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the country faced major archlight and created its position in the world. The site of the ruins of Alexandria on the Oxus (the Oxus, one of the great rivers of the world, is known today as the Amu Darya) was closed in Soviet times. However, these days the gateway to the attraction remains wide open and the first flush of tourists has been allowed to travel to this exotic location.
From the dust slopes of the hill the city stand tall, verdant green fields sweep away into the Amu Darya valley and Afghanistan is visible across the river. Till date, the site is not entirely excavated and there is little in the way of supporting infrastructure other than a brand new road running to the site from the nearby city of Termez. The archaeologists I was travelling with clambered through the ruins, excited to see this piece of legendary history up close.
“Uzbekistan is now the second most freely accessible country in the world after Georgia,” Abdukhakimov says enthusiastically. “Hospitality is in our DNA!”