The city of Khojand, formerly Leninabad is one of the oldest cities in Central Asia dating back 2,500 years to the Persian Empire. Also known as the Sunny City because of the weather, it is Tajikistan’s business capital.
Panchshanbe bazaar was said to be the largest in Central Asia, although we may have heard that claim on several other occasions. Panchshanbe means Thursday, and as we were visiting on a Thursday, we expected it to be busier than it was. There was the usual array of fruit, vegetables, nuts and dried fruit, bread, and qurut or dried yoghurt balls.
Sheikh Muslihiddin was a poet, who locals believed performed miracles. Therefore his 12th century mausoleum was popular among pilgrims and over the years it has developed into a complex where we found the 16th century Masjid Jame Mosque and a minaret, flanked by two madrassas. Like Trafalgar Square the domes and square have become overrun by pigeons. Our guide told us that that when a couple are married, they have ‘honey time’ – 40 days when they stay at home and begin the baby making process. Afterwards they will then visit the Mullah and their respective families. Assuming their attempts are successful, when the newborn baby is 40 days old, the couple return to the Mullah with their child, who will bless it and cut its hair. However, as it was around 35 degrees, we didn’t linger too long.
The Historical Museum of Sughd was built within the Khujand Fortress and reconstructed in 1999 on the southeastern corner of the old city wall. It was a grand place, and the air-conditioning was most welcome. We went swiftly through the stone age, bronze age etc until we reached a wonderful series of huge modern mosaics about the life of Alexander the Great, created by the Tajik, Jamshed Juraev in a year. In the mosaic depicting his funeral procession his hand dangled empty to depict he conquered half the world but went to his grave with nothing.
Nearby was Kamoli Khujandi Park, with a semi-circle of columns and busts of Khojand’s historical leaders and a cable car across the Syr-Dara River to Somoni Park. But unfortunately, our time was limited as we were only staying one night.
