Osh - Sulaimon Too Mount

Sulaimon-Too (Mount Solomon) is the most important cultural site in Kyrgyzstan and the country’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site, located in the heart of the city of Osh.

Mount Sulaimon-Too itself is almost a kilometre long, made of limestone and has five peaks, the highest of which is 150 metres above the city of Osh. Due to its geological nature, the mountain has a large number of caves and grottos, which is quite unusual for Kyrgyzstan.

Even at the beginning of civilisation in the Fergana Valley, this relatively small mountain had cultic significance for the people. The first traces of worship near the mountain date back to the deepest antiquity and are dated to the centuries X-XII BC, i.e. to more than 3000 years ago. Numerous petroglyphic drawings left by primitive peoples on the slopes of the mountain still remind us of this today. It is therefore not surprising that the city of Osh – the oldest city in Central Asia, part of the Great Silk Road – was founded near it.

As early as the Middle Ages, the mountain became an important object of religious worship in connection with the Islamic religion. The name of the mountain, which is named after the legendary King Solomon, revered in both Islam and Christianity, refers to this period. According to legend, the Prophet once visited the mountain and prayed there, and even today his knees and forehead stand on its slopes.

The historical significance of the mountain is closely linked to the name of Babur – a famous king and military leader, the founder of the Mughal Empire that stretched from the southern borders of the Fergana Valley to the southern part of India – who wrote about the mountain in his famous work “Babur Name”. Babur, who was born near Osh, liked to wander along the Sulaimon-Too and pray in solitude on its slopes. For this purpose, Babur had a small prayer house built on the mountainside, popularly known as “Babur’s House” and officially called Takhty Sulaimon Mosque. Only a replica of the original structure survives to this day, as the 16th century building was demolished during the Soviet era as part of the campaign against religion and rebuilt in 1991.

There are numerous legends surrounding Mount Sulaimon-Too. The numerous caves and grottos served as places of worship. Even today, the crevices are visited by many pilgrims in search of healing from illnesses. The stone, polished to a high sheen, on which women who wish to have children roll around, is widely known. The slopes of the mountain are covered with Arabic characters whose meaning is still unknown, and the geological formations on the slopes also look like various animals.

During the Soviet era, another attraction was built on the slopes of the mountain – a museum that has few equivalents and is located directly on the mountain in its caves. The museum’s exhibition provides information about the history of Osh and the Osh region, as well as the entire region. The architecture of the museum is an outstanding example of Soviet modernism.

There are also numerous historical monuments at the foot of the mountain, most of which are related to the Islamic religion. The most important are the 16th-century Rawat Abdullahan Mosque and the Asaf-ibn Bukhriya Mausoleum, which dates back to the 11th century. All this makes Sulaimon-Too the most important Islamic shrine in Central Asia, visited annually by thousands of pilgrims and tourists from all over the world.

It also houses more modern attractions such as the tallest three-storey yurt in the world, which houses a small museum dedicated to the nomadic history of the Kyrgyz people.