Rock Crystal

As evidence of the written records left by scholars, we continue to introduce you to the many valuable artifacts from our collections discovered at the ancient Taraz settlement. Today's topic will be devoted to the exhibit "Rock Crystal." Almost all medieval geographers, historians, and travelers wrote about Taraz (Talas). The city's location was one of the most important points on the Great Silk Road. Chinese traveler Xuanzang wrote: "The territory of Talas is 8-9 li. Merchants from many countries stop here, bringing and selling various goods." During archaeological excavations, the layers of the city dating to the 10th-12th centuries yielded numerous finds that became vivid evidence of Taraz's cultural and economic development. One of them is the "rock crystal" found in the "shahristan" zone of the ancient city of Taraz.

This exhibit resembles the "head portion of a Buddha statue"; it is colorless and transparent. In our country, rock crystal is frequently found in the Saryarka mountains. Nevertheless, this rock crystal exhibit "resembling the head portion of a Buddha statue" may have been brought from another state. Such exhibits testify that amazing creations emerged from the hands of skilled craftsmen. The spiritual wealth left as a legacy by our ancestors has reached us from the depths of centuries through signatures and ornaments on various items. Patterns of the past can also be seen in folk memory and in artifacts that connect centuries to one another.

Chief Custodian of the State Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve "Monuments of Ancient Taraz" Ospanova Aliya Muratovna