Termez Archaeological Museum

The museum opened in 2002, in a purpose-built building in the centre of Termez decorated with a blue dome and a portal. It was created to house the rich archaeological finds of the Surkhandarya region, the southernmost province of Uzbekistan, which lies on the Amu Darya opposite Afghanistan. This region was part of ancient Bactria, one of the great civilisations of Central Asia, and later the heart of the Kushan empire, which linked Central Asia with India.

The collection includes tens of thousands of objects, from Stone Age tools to the Middle Ages.

• The Bronze Age: finds from Sapalli Tepa and Djarkutan, settlements of the second millennium BC belonging to the Bactria-Margiana culture, with pottery, bronze objects and burials.
• Bactria and Alexander: objects from the period after Alexander the Great’s conquest in the 4th century BC, when Greek and local cultures mixed in the Greco-Bactrian kingdom.
• The Kushans: sculptures, coins and decorative objects from Dalverzin Tepe, a Kushan city where a famous gold treasure was found, and from Khalchayan, with its painted clay sculptures of rulers and nobles.
• Buddhist art: sculptures, reliefs, wall paintings and inscriptions from Fayaz Tepa, Kara Tepa and other monasteries, including heads and figures of the Buddha.
• Medieval Termez: carved terracotta and plaster, ceramics, glass and objects from the Islamic city before its destruction by the Mongols in 1220.
• Models of the ancient sites, useful before visiting them.

Many archaeological sites around Termez are ruins of mud brick that can be hard to interpret without context. The museum explains the history of each site, shows what was found there and how the buildings looked, and displays the finest objects, which are no longer on site. Visiting the museum first, ideally with a guide, makes the trip to Fayaz Tepa, the Zurmala stupa or Kyrk Kyz far more rewarding. The museum can also help to arrange permission for visits to Kara Tepa in the border zone.

Bactria, the ancient name of the region between the Hindu Kush and the Amu Darya, covered parts of today’s northern Afghanistan, southern Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Its capital, Bactra, near modern Balkh in Afghanistan, was one of the great cities of the ancient world. The two-humped Bactrian camel, which carried goods along the Silk Road, takes its name from this region. The museum shows how Bactria was successively part of the Persian Achaemenid empire, the empire of Alexander, the Greco-Bactrian kingdom and the Kushan empire, each leaving its mark on art and culture.

Location: in the centre of Termez.

Tickets: an entrance fee; photography may cost extra; guided tours may be available.

Opening hours: usually closed one day a week; check before you go.

Time needed: 1–1.5 hours.

Tips: the museum is air-conditioned, a welcome refuge in the heat of Termez summers. Plan it for the middle of the day and visit the outdoor sites in the morning and late afternoon. See things to do in Termez and how to get to Termez.

Some of the most famous finds from the region are in Tashkent: the Buddha triad from Fayaz Tepa is in the State Museum of History, and objects from the Dalverzin Tepe treasure are held in national collections. A visit to both museums gives a complete picture of the ancient south of Uzbekistan.