MARY AND MERV, TURKMENISTAN

Our first of two stops in Turkmenistan, the fifth and final "Stan" on our itinerary, was the city of Mary. "Mary" is quite an unusual name for a city deep in Islamic territory, and as it turns out, Mary has an unusual history.

In the 11th century, one of the local tribes converted to the Eastern Christian Church. According to their tradition, Mary the Mother of Jesus is buried here. (There are several other groups that dispute this.)

Clearly, however, Islam has a strong presence here now. I wish we could have stopped to visit this beautiful building, the Gurbanguly Hajji Mosque:

Construction began in 2001 but was halted due to lack of funds. Eventually the president of Turkmenistan (more about him in a future post) donated enough money from "the President's Charity Fund" to complete construction, and in appreciation, the mosque was named for him.

The modern city of Mary is built near the ruins of the ancient city of Merv, one of the oldest oasis cities on the Silk Road and a UNESCO World Heritage site. It shimmers like a mirage on the edge of the horizon:

Merv was founded by Zoroastrians in about 600 BC, although there were settlements in this area long before that. At the height of its power in about 1000-1200 AD, it was a key cultural center, much like Baghdad or Damascus, and the third largest city in the world. By this time the residents of Merv had converted to Islam along with most of Central Asia, and Merv was the most important Islamic city of the day. It was also the point at which the Silk Road split into the northern and southern passages.

However, in 1221 the city was brutally conquered by the youngest and perhaps most blood-thirsty son of Genghis Khan, Tolui, and up to 1,000,000 people were murdered. The city was basically leveled and the population wiped out. It is considered to be one of the bloodiest captures of a city in the history of the world.

The city was slowly rebuilt to an extent, but never again achieved the heights it had attained earlier, and it was even leveled once again in 1788 or 1789.

Our first stop was the 125-foot-tall, 12th-century Mausoleum of Sultan Sanjar.  Supposedly this building was so tall that it could be seen from a point a full day's journey away. (We could pretty much see it from all the places we visited in Merv.) Information on site says that the sultan was the "Alexander the Great of this time; he was the patron of scientists and poets and was accepted by Islamic world in the state of prosperity and happiness owing to sciences and arts."

The Mausoluem got some reconstructive surgery in the 20th century and went from this . . .

Picture from here

. . . to this:

The pointed dome of the Florence Cathedral, built in 1296 (137 years later), bears some remarkable similarities to the mausoleum, although it is unlikely that it was directly influenced by it. Still, our guide made mention of it.

In its day, the mausoleum dome was covered with the traditional turquoise tiles we have seen on domes all over the Stans, but alas, that has not (as of yet) been part of the restoration:

Further information at the site said that after it was built, this mausoleum "was soon recognized as a pearl of Islamic architecture by its monumental grandeur, precision of form and, at the same time, by the graceful and precise correlation of details to the whole construction of building."

The engineering of this 1,000-year-old building is mind-boggling:

As noted earlier, Genghis Khan's Mongolian armies, led by his youngest son, invaded Merv in 1221, about 50 years after this was built, and so the Sultan's body was secretly moved to another location. The location was so secret that today we don't have a clue where it is. (Although there are also those who say the body was eventually moved back to this spot.)

Without thinking, Bob stood on this slab to get a better angle for a photo. Our local guide totally freaked out, and Bob quickly found another spot for a photo: 

This ancient culture's understanding of geometry is evident in the web of lines that form complex patterns:

Looking at an exterior courtyards from above:

The builders must have played with Legos when they were kids:

This pile of rags tied onto what appears to be a sewer grate was baffling at first. Our guide explained that the grate actually covers a well. People tie cloth strips on it and make a wish, much like we throw a coin in a fountain or well when we make a wish:

Kind of bizarre.

We moved on to visit some of the other ruins. Mud walls that once protected the ancient city are eroded but still standing:

Our next stop was the Erk Kala Citadel, a circular fortress that rises 85 to 92 feet above the desert floor:

I climbed to the top of the "tower," a dirt and rock knob on the top of a very steep dirt hill:

The 50-acre interior has been more or less filled in by wind-driven sand and erosion, making it look like an enormous meteorite crashed here thousands of years ago:

The mausoleum we had just visited can be seen in the distance:

Looking down at our bus gives an idea of how steep the grade for climbing is:

Our next stop was the Greater Kyz Kala koshk (fort), built sometime between the 8th and 12th centuries. It has unique corrugated walls

This was probably built over 1,000 years ago. As always, I asked myself HOW???

It reminds me a bit of the Acropolis of Athens, which was built in the 5th century:

It is fenced off so that visitors can't contribute to the decay, and an interesting drainage system is in place as part of the restoration:

Information on-site notes that the restoration and preservation project is being funded by the US Department of State's Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation, in collaboration with Turkmenistan's Ministry of Culture.

That made me proud.

In the distance is another, less elaborate fort:

. . . and the mausoleum. Again.

Just so you know we weren't left stranded in the desert with no bush to "go" behind:

Turkmenistan hollyhocks:

On to the 12th century Mausoleum of Muhammad ibn Zeyd:

Muhammad ibn Zeyd was a Shia who led a national rebellion against Arab occupiers of the area. He is considered to be a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. His uprising was suppressed and he was executed.

They laid out the red carpet for our visit:

These swirling ceilings are almost hypnotic:

Such intricate work for 1112 AD:

Outside the mausoleum, this dead tree had rags tied on it, just like the grill on the well at the other mausoleum and for the same wish-making purpose:

There were also two tiny "babies" in crude cradles and a net bag filled with what looked like bones.  Each item left on this tree represents a wish or a prayer. Perhaps these babies were placed there by infertile couples:

I don't even have a guess about what the bones mean:

There is the mausoleum of Sultan Sanjar again. It really dominates the landscape:

Before we got back on the train for our very last ride to Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, we stopped at what is called "The National House," basically a place of expressing culture through clothing, music, and food:

This fellow in the furry hat was playing a piece on his twangy guitar-like instrument:

He bears a striking resemblance to rocker Rod Stewart, don't you think?

I liked his music. It was somewhat hypnotic:

Spread out in front of him were all kinds of trinkets for sale:

We were presented with sodas, baklava, scones, and other local treats:

The greeters had a lovely headdress for Carol Tyndall, the owner of our tour company:

We were running late for our train, and somehow we got a police escort, complete with lights, which sped up our return. We made it in time, and Hans, the German train company representative traveling with us, offered the police escorts 20 euro. They declined with a smile.

We made it back just in time, although I'm not sure why that was a issue since we were the only passengers on this train. Maybe we needed to make way for another train: