Turkmenistan in central Asia is one of our homeschool countries-of-the-week, so why not spend aΒ few minutes today learning about one of Turkmenistan’s World Heritage Sites: Kunya-Urgench.
Kunya-Urgench was an important central Asian population center in the Middle Ages:
Kunya-Urgench is located in the territory of Dashoguz velayat in Turkmenistan. It is situated in north-western Turkmenistan, on the left bank of the Amu-Daria River. Urgench was the capital of the Khorezm region, which was part of the Achaemenid Empire.
The old town area contains series of monuments mainly from the 11th to 16th centuries. This area has remained a vast deserted land with some remains of ancient fortified settlements, including a mosque, the gates of a caravanserai, fortresses, mausoleums, and a 60-m high minaret.
Among the Kunya-Urgench monuments one can see all variety of methods and dΓ©cor of Islamic architecture of Central Asia. There are constructions from adobe and burned bricks, plain unicameral dome constructions, and buildings with complicated compositions, sometimes with Π° long history of development, repair, and reconstruction. These monuments also demonstrate the evolution of methods of treatment of the inner surface of domes from cellular sails to what are called βmuqarnas,β brought to the highest perfection by local masters. The best monuments of this city are distinguished by a high degree of decorativeness. They provide prominent examples of classical arabesques in monochrome terra-cotta and bright colorful enamel.
The monuments testify to outstanding achievements in architecture and craftsmanship whose influence reached Iran and Afghanistan, and later the architecture of the Mogul Empire of 16th-century India. The Islamic sacred objects concentrated in this city are exceptionally popular places for pilgrims and serve as attractive objects for the international tourism. (World Heritage Centre #1199)
You can find a gallery of additional photos of Kunya-Urgench on the World Heritage Centre’s website.
World Heritage Sites are cultural or natural landmarks of international significance, selected by their home countries and recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. More than a thousand such sites have been designated in over 160 countries, and we feature one every Wednesday, drawn from one of our homeschool countries-of-the-week. You can find a complete list of World Heritage Sites online at the World Heritage Centre and in Wikipedia.
The World Heritage Centre also has a free and comprehensive World Heritage education kit for teachers, as well as a wonderful full-color wall map of World Heritage Sites, available for the cost of shipping. Why not add them both to your own homeschool library.Β πΊ
What world treasures are you exploring in your homeschool this Hercules Term?Β π
β‘β The great globe itself: This is one of our regular Homeschool Geography posts featuring cultural and natural sites of international importance. Download a copy of our River Houses World Heritage Calendar and follow along with us as we tour the planet, and add your name to our weekly mailing list to get great homeschool teaching ideas delivered right to your mailbox all through the year.Β π
β‘β This is a printable lesson: Down at the bottom of this post you’ll find a custom “Print” button that will let you create a neat and easy-to-read copy of this little lesson, and it will even let you resize or delete elements that you may not want or need (such as images or footnotes). Give it a try today!Β π¨
β‘β Books in the running brooks: You can always turn to your River Houses almanac, atlas, and history encyclopedia for more information about any of our countries-of-the-week. The almanac has a lengthy section with detailed profiles of all the nations of the world; the endpapers of the atlas are indexes that will show you where all of the individual national and regional maps may be found; the history encyclopedia has a comprehensive collection of national histories in an appendix; and you can find additional illustrations, flags, and other mentions through the indexes in each of these volumes. For an ideal little lesson, just write the name of the Weekly World Heritage Site on your homeschool bulletin board, find its location in your atlas, read the WHC’s brief description aloud, look at a picture or two, and you’re done. Over the course of the year, without even realizing it, your students will absorb a wealth of new historical, geographical, and cultural information.Β πΉπ²
β‘β Homeschool calendars: We have a whole collection of free, printable, educational homeschool calendars and planners available on our main River Houses calendar page. They will help you create a light and easy structure for your homeschool year. Give them a try today!Β π
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β‘β Join us! The aim of the River Houses project is to create a network of friendly local homeschool support groupsΒ β local chapters that we call βHouses.β Our first at-large chapter, Headwaters House, is now forming and is open to homeschoolers everywhere. Find out how to become one of our founding members on the Headwaters House membership page.Β π‘