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This unique city is located in the western Turkmenistan near the Caspian Sea. It stands in Misrian Valley - one of the most unusual places on the territory of Turkmenistan . There hasn't been any intensive construction activity; the soil there is not fertile so a lot of historical monuments have survived.
Dekhistan boasts its picturesque towers of ancient settlement s and 10th - 12th- century monuments as well as the most ancient mosque up the early Islamic period which stands on ancient entombment Mashat . This city is probably the most remote and isolated. Once it used to be a prospering medieval city standing on c aravan routes between Khoresm and P ersian Hyrcania.
Dekhistan is considered the most important medieval oasis in southwest part of Turkmenistan . From the 8th to14th century the city of Misrian ( Misr or Messorian) stood on these lands. It reached its highest power during the rule of horezmshakh dynasty . The numerous ruins of various structures testify about its former majesty. Dekhistan was divided into fortified "shakhristan" (old area) with a citadel and "rabat" (residential and commercial quarters). O nly well-known mausoleum Shir-Kabir ( the 11th - the 12th centuries), t wo 25-meter-high minarets, a cathedral mosque portal , the remains of clay city walls, the ruins of caravan serais and the mausoleums on Mashat necropolis have survived .
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A few caravan serais located behind the fortification indicate the locations of several city gate s and the direction of caravan routes leading from city. The city has survived in a very poor condition and the majority of its structures are covered with the desert sand s. H owever , due to the fact that there Firdausi wrote his we ll-known poem "Shakhname" t he city has great historical and cultural value.
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