Afrasiyab

Afrasiab is the archaeological tell of ancient Samarkand's predecessor city, a roughly 220-hectare triangular mound in the northeast of the historic centre and one of Central Asia's most significant excavation sites. For millennia it served as a major Sogdian metropolis and key waypoint on the Silk Road, until Genghis Khan razed it in 1220 and the city's centre shifted southward to its present location. Excavations have uncovered a grid of paved streets, residential quarters, mosques, and workshops spanning four distinct construction phases. The bare, windswept mound today offers open views across Samarkand, while the adjacent Afrasiab Museum houses the remarkable 7th-century Sogdian murals depicting diplomatic envoys from Byzantium, China, and India.