Navekat or Nevkat was an ancient

Silk Road The Silk Road was a network of Asian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over , it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the ...

city that flourished between the 6th and 12th centuries. It lies near the modern village of Krasnaya Rechka, in the

Chüy Valley The Chüy Valley (; ; ) is a large valley located in northern Kyrgyzstan and southern Kazakhstan, in the northern part of the Tian Shan. It extends from Boom Gorge in the east to Muyunkum Desert in the west. It is long and has an area of about . ...

, present-day

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir Mountains, Pamir mountain ranges. Bishkek is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Kyrgyzstan, largest city. Kyrgyz ...

, about 30 kilometers east of

Bishkek Bishkek, formerly known as Pishpek (until 1926), and then Frunze (1926–1991), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kyrgyzstan. Bishkek is also the administrative centre of the Chüy Region. Bishkek is situated near the Kazakhstan ...

. It was one of the most important trading centres of the region. Navekat was inscribed on the

UNESCO World Heritage List World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritag ...

in 2014 as a part of the site " Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor".

Archaeological site

Navekat had two walls: the first around the Shahristan, the traditional administrative center of this type of city; the second wall was more than long, with public buildings, markets, gardens and even farms inside. There was a

citadel A citadel is the most fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of ''city'', meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. ...

() in the northeastern part of the city built on a massive earthen platform. The volume of this platform was about 13 million cubic meters, probably the largest man-made mound in the world. During archaeological excavations, artifacts uncovered included a golden burial mask and an 8-meter-long

reclining Buddha A reclining Buddha is an image that represents Buddha lying down and is a major iconographic theme in Buddhist art. It represents the historical Buddha during his last illness, about to enter the parinirvana. He is lying on his right side, his h ...

statue in one of the two

Buddhist temple A Buddhist temple or Buddhist monastery is the place of worship for Buddhism, Buddhists, the followers of Buddhism. They include the structures called vihara, chaitya, stupa, wat, khurul and pagoda in different regions and languages. Temples in B ...

s. other artifacts demonstrate the presence of Buddhists, Zoroastrians,

Eastern Christians Eastern Christianity comprises Christian traditions and church families that originally developed during classical and late antiquity in the Eastern Mediterranean region or locations further east, south or north. The term does not describe a ...

, and Manicheans.

References

{{reflist Archaeological sites in Kyrgyzstan Populated places along the Silk Road Chüy Region Former populated places in Kyrgyzstan Невакет

Archaeological site

See also

References