“Culture” (AKIpress) – A Kyrgyz-Japanese archaeological expedition discovered on the territory of the medieval settlement of Ak-Beshim (Suyab) in the Chui region the remains of a temple complex, presumably dating back to the Buddhist culture of the 7th-8th centuries.
According to the press service of the Ministry of Culture, research has been carried out since the beginning of May at the Shakhristan-2 site. During the excavations, steps, a ramp and a platform were found, built from baked bricks.
“These architectural elements are characteristic of temple buildings of the Tang Dynasty. The find confirms the assumption of the famous archaeologist Alexei Bernshtam about the presence of a Buddhist temple complex in the area in the late 1940s,” the report says.
Excavations in 2025–2026 provided new scientific information about the spread of Buddhist culture in the ancient city of Suyab, which was one of the centers of the Great Silk Road. Suyab was the capital of the Western Turkic Khaganate from the 6th to the 11th centuries.
The expedition has been operating since 2012. The leaders from the Kyrgyz side are Professor of the National Academy of Sciences Bakyt Amanbaeva, and from the Japanese side – Professor of Teikyo University Kazuya Yamauchi.
Today, work is underway to transfer the land plot to the category of historical and cultural lands. If the issue is resolved positively, it is planned to create an open-air museum in the future.
Ak-Beshim (Suyab) was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2014 as part of the transnational nomination “Silk Road: network of routes of the Chang’an – Tien Shan corridor.”
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