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Tajikistan - 2017

 

With a population of about 180,000 people, Khujand is Tajikistan’s second largest city.  As such, it was awarded the name Leninabad during the Soviet era.  Perhaps revealing the ranking of political figures at the time, Dushanbe (capital of the Tajik SSR and largest city) was known as Stalinabad during the same period.  Both cities reverted to their pre-Soviet names in 1991.

We began the day with breakfast in the same restaurant where we had dinner last night.  To be more accurate, we had breakfast in the hotel’s cafeteria, because the dining area is a cavernous Soviet-style canteen, where food is served buffet-style.  Breakfast was definitely an improvement on last night’s dinner, though to be fair, we did arrive just after the cafeteria was supposed to be closing.

We set off at 9:00 am for a tour of the highlights of Khujand (pronounced Hoo-jend).  We made a brief stop at the hydro-electric dam on the Syr Darya.  This is a controversial facility, which has led to disputes between Kyrgyzstan (upstream) and Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan (downstream) over water allocations, with downstream countries accusing upstream countries of taking more than their allocated shares of the water.  Given the controversial nature of the facility, it was perhaps unsurprising that as soon as we stepped out of the bus and began to get some photos, an animated soldier began furiously blowing his whistle, gesturing frantically for us to return to the bus. 

Our first ‘real’ stop was a large square that marks the traditional centre of Khujand, Registoni Panjshanbe.  The square had interesting things to see on three of its four sides.  We headed first to the Shaikh Maslihaddin Mosque and mausoleum on the northern side of the square, looking resplendent in the morning sunshine with its tiled minaret, turquoise dome and intricate portico.  We were not the only visitors to the mosque, being joined by large numbers of local people, several of whom were children who delighted in chasing the hundreds of pigeons around in the grounds.

There are two prayer halls in the mosque.  We visited the new prayer hall first, a large hall that can accommodate a few thousand worshippers that was built in 1999.  Minimalist in its décor as a reflection of its Sunni character, this was an excellent opportunity to hear an informative and insightful overview of Islam from Rich Beal, our tour leader, who has studied religious traditions in some detail.  After some time, we moved on to the old prayer hall, more intimate in scale but much more richly decorated.

Leaving the mosque, we crossed the square to the southern side to go through Panjshanbe Bazaar, Khujand’s largest market.  Housed in a beautiful Soviet-era building that was constructed in 1964, the main hall contained a colourful array of stalls selling bread, fruit, nuts, meat, cooking oil, and at the far end, kimchi – being sold by descendants of North Koreans who were sent to Central Asia by Stalin in the late 1940s and early 1950s.  Beyond the main hall, household goods and endless quantities of clothes imported from China were being sold outdoors and in new arcades of small stalls.

The western side of the square housed the third feature of interest, a three-sided memorial to the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945), with a tall central tower surrounded by panels showing the horrors of war, the sacrifices made by soldiers, and the importance of peace.

Before heading off in the bus, we spent a little time exploring souvenir shops selling, among other things, Soviet memorabilia, and with help, I found a chemist to get some throat lozenges, which are very cheap Tajikistan compared with Western countries such as the United States, Australia and Britain.

Our next stop was, perhaps surprisingly, the post office.  The aim was not to post any letters, but to see the beautiful Soviet-era frescoes on the walls.  The frescoes were remarkable, ranging from Lenin dictating the text of a telegram, postal vans pushing through strong winds to overcome adversity, a Soviet model man and model women holding hands and flags to symbolise the unity of the USSR, and Yuri Gagarin floating in space.  Behind the post office was a yard with the rusting remains of various old Soviet cars and trucks.  In order to get a close look, we had to leave our cameras with a minder, as the manager was afraid someone might post a picture of them on the internet and embarrass the post office.

We had lunch in a restaurant just along the street from the post office, a delicious meal of plov and shashlik.  Our next stop was just a short walk of a few minutes to Khujand Fort, which contains the Historical Museum of the Sughd region.  This small museum was modern and well-presented, and we were shown through the museum by an enthusiastic if somewhat robotic women who clearly wanted us to know every single detail of Tajikistan since the stone age.  A large statue of Timur Malik, who is celebrated as a nationalist who tried to withstand the onslaught of the Mongol hoards under Genghis Khan, dominated the entrance area, together with a globe of the world that was developed by the geographer Hoji Yusuf Mirfayoz.  Unlike the museum in Dushanbe, this museum had an impressive display showing the Soviet period, including Stalin and the Great Patriotic War.

Our next stop had not been planned.  We were informed that there was a small private museum devoted to the Soviet Union, with the added information that everything on show was for sale.  The museum was in a traditional house in a narrow laneway, but we found our way there with the help of the owner’s daughter who met us on the main road and directed us.  In fact, the house had several rooms of exhibits, only one of which was of the Soviet era, but it was interesting to see (sometimes) well-reserved old radios, televisions, telephones, busts, books, clocks, irons, and so on.  The owner was very gracious, insisting on offering us tea and heavily sweetened coffee before we left.

Our next stop took us to the opposite side of the Syr Darya, where one of the largest (if not the largest) statue of Lenin was on display.  To get to the statue, we passed a memorial to the sacrifices made by Soviet soldiers in the war against Afghanistan (1979 to 1989), and proceeded along a pathway that emphasised the huge size of the statue the closer we were. 
Mounted on a high plinth flanked by a red hammer-and-sickle, the statue was 22 metres high and seemed in remarkably good condition.
The large size of the statue was a reflection of Khujand’s former name of Leninabad.  When the Soviet Union disintegrated, the statue had been located in a large park beside Somoni Boulevarde, then known as Lenin Prospekt.  Although some had argued the statue should be destroyed, it was decided instead to move Lenin’s statue to a new site beside an electricity sub-station and a carwash.  In Lenin’s place, a
new 22 metre high statue of Ismoili Somoli has been erected, which was our next stop.

A drive back across to the south side of the Syr Darya took us to our next stop, the Palace of Arbob.  Located bizarrely on the Voroshilov State Collective Farm, a former collective cotton farm during Soviet times, the palace was built in the 1950s as a recreation of Peterhof, the Winter Palace on the outskirts of St Petersburg (then Leningrad) in Russia. 

We began our visit in the large theatre that can hold 700 people.  The theatre looked new despite its age, and we were told that it had not been refreshed or renovated since its construction; the quality of the original construction had been so good even though much of it was done for free by voluntary labour.  The building has taken on something of a sacred site (the words of our guide) because Tajikistan’s President (Emomali Rahmon) brought together various  factions in the aftermath of the breakup of the USSR in this place to create a stable, independent Tajikistan.

Our tour continued through several exhibition rooms, many of which were a tribute to the collective farm’s leader’s importance (and large size), a man named Urunkojaev.  Other rooms showed bounteous harvests and happy, smiling peasants, including huge teams of voluntary workers building irrigation canals that were reminiscent of China during the Cultural Revolution or Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge.  The palace is obviously a popular venue for weddings, and indeed a wedding party was present on the steps during our visit this afternoon.

Our final stop on the way back to our hotel was a brief one at the headquarters of the Qayraqqum City Government.  There was a photogenic statue of Lenin in front of the building, and after obtaining permission, we proceeded to get some pictures.  An especially interesting feature was at the base of the statue, the old Soviet-era emblem of the Tajik SSR still on display.

We returned to the hotel just after 6:00pm.  Dinner in the cafeteria was from 6:00pm to 7:00.  We had the option of having our free (i.e. included) dinner in the cafeteria, or going by bus to a restaurant in Khujand.  My fellow travellers chose to go into Khujand, but I took the cafeteria option, mainly because I didn’t want to spend half an hour each way travelling, plus waiting for dinner, when I needed to write this diary (for you, dear reader!).  Having sinner was not a solitary experience, as there were about 300 other diners with me.  As for quality, it wasn’t as bad as the previous night.



 

Day 7 - Khujand

Wednesday 29 March 2017