Ancient Khuttal

Hulbuk (khulbuk) has reappeared on the tentative list, and could - in principle - be incscribed in 2025. It must be said in advance that if this will be the case, it will only be due to some kind of international lobbying, and not to its own merits. (After the Tugay Forest, of course, I wouldn't be surprised - it's no less a weak nomination.) The castle walls have been totally rebuilt from the outside - in all likelihood, the reconstruction is more imaginative than scientific. When we visited the area - in the summer of 2023 - landscaping was well underway in the former lower town, but it was not restoration, but rather covering everything with paving blocks and planting trees between them. What is valuable and original has been moved to a small museum opposite the site. The museum is free of charge and, as is the Tajik custom, shoes must be removed when entering. There are some nice carvings and interesting artefacts,. It's not very big, you can walk around in about 20 minutes. The guard at the museum has the key to the castle itself (it's locked, by the way). Once inside the walls, it turns out that there is practically nothing inside. Reconstruction hasn't even started, but so little of the interior remains that even if there is a reconstruction it will be in no way authentic, so I don't know which is better, to leave it as it is or build a Tajik Disneyland …

Hulbuk is a medieval town on Southern Tadjikistan, in the village of Kurban Shaid (Pingan on google map, near Vose). It lies next to the main road from Dushanbe to Kulab (and from there to the Pamir highway).

It is on the TL as “Palace of the Governor”, but appears for to be for examination in 2020 (although incomplete) as ”medieval town”. It also appears on “Silk Roads in Tadjikistan” project, sometimes written Khulbuk, sometimes Hulbuk.

Hulbuk was the capital of the Banijuridsm, Turco-Iranian dynasty reigning ca 847 to 963, vassals of the Samanids (who ruled Samarcande) and their successors, until its destruction, probably by the Mongols.

The site consists of a citadel, which measures 170 x 60 meters, and a lower city to the north and east of the citadel. Early excavations, started in 1953, concentrate on the citadel, and the lower town has only recently been looked at.

The striking figure of this site are the walls of the citadel which have been rebuilt to their idealized size and style from 2005 on, completely surrounding the ruins. 12 meters high, with round towers and a monumental entrance portal, they do look what they are, a modern Disneyland-like reconstruction.

I briefly looked to the exterior of the site while on a tour group of the Pamir Highway. Our group leader told me that they used to include a visit to Hulbuk on their tour, but that the walls look so unauthentic that participant …