Argo

France - 19-Apr-20 -

Uzbekistan has nominated 18 locations both individually and combined as one single serial nomination under the name “Silk roads in Uzbekistan”. Reading a recent review (by Els) about Bahoutdin complex, and all travels being cancelled for the time being, I dived into my notes and pictures from our 2007 trip in Uzbekistan to sort out which of these 18 sites we had actually visited. I counted a handful of them, and only one not reviewed so far: Raboti Malik caravanserai.

The remains of this caravanserai are located immediately along the main road from Bukhara to Samarkand, and as a traveller in Uzbekistan is likely to visit these two cities, I can only recommend to stop en route and have a look. It won’t take long anyway. On one side of the road stands the main gate of the caravanserai, adorned with brick pattern. A very old structure built some 950 years ago! Behind the gate, the rest of the building is almost all gone, but base of walls can still be seen. On the other side of the road is the cistern, a domed structure with stairs leading down to the water. There was no fence, no fees for visitors, and no information when we visited.

As an individual monument, it will never be inscribed. But it would obviously make sense to get it as a component of the “Silk road” nomination (which, in an ideal world, would be an extension of the already inscribed central Asia silk road section, and not a new WHS on its own). This is, I believe, the only caravanserai (or “inn”) out of the 18 selected locations (the other ones being cities, mausoleum, pilgrimage sites, etc), although caravanserai used to be much needed rest places along the road. Nowadays, its location is not the nicest one (the road is busy, the landscape flat, there is a petrol station and a small airport nearby), but I like the idea that it still stands along the main west-east road of the country, with people and goods still passing on it doorsteps, as it has been for centuries.