Tash Rabat

Tash-Rabat Caravanserai was a travellers’ inn on the Silk Road. It was built in the 15th century from crushed stone bound together with clay mortar with joints sealed with gypsum mortar.

The structure had 31 rooms in a larger rectangular courtyard which was protected by high walls. All the rooms within the courtyard have dome shaped roof above a quadrangular frame. The largest of buildings with the complex was the central hall, whose dome can be seen towering above the outer walls. The Caravanserai would have provided shelter for both humans and animals.

At an altitude of 3,200 meters, Tash-Rabat is in a pass between Chatyr and Koshoy Korgon in the mountains, where snow covers the ground for two-thirds of the year.

Tash-Rabat means ‘stone yard’ in Kyrgyz and is a very apt name for a very big enclosure which is 33.7metres by 35.7 metres.