House-museum of Muboraki Wakhani, Pamir Highway

Genius from the village of Yamg

The house-museum of Muboraki Wakhani is a very interesting sight located in the middle of the Wakhan corridor, in the colorful village of Yamg. He was born and lived there all his life, from 1842 to 1902; amazingly, he became a scientist and philosopher, inventor and poet with no access to the development of the world science. He is sometimes compared to Leonardo da Vinci; like da Vinci, Muboraki Wakhani also created and worked himself.

Today works and inventions of this talented scientist from Pamir can be viewed in his house-museum where different exhibits are gathered, and the interior has been preserved, so you can see the lifestyle peculiar to villages of Pamir for centuries. There you can learn the arrangement of residential houses, various items that had some sacral meaning as well as decoration of Pamirian houses. Moreover, there are everyday life items and musical instruments among the exhibits created by Muboraki Wakhani.

It is worth paying attention to the stone astronomical calendar invented by Muboraki Wakhani scattered around the surrounding mountains. There is a stone with a hole not far from the house-museum and similar stone-windows are on the mountain slopes, so on particular days of the year, the sunlight or light of stars can be seen through these pairs of rocks. This way he defined days of vernal and autumn equinox, and made other measurements.

Any traveler taking Pamir Highway tour should definitely pay a visit to this house-museum, as you will find nothing more natural and vivid that shows lifestyle of Pamirians. It will take you to the atmosphere of village life; you will learn more about local beliefs, culture and traditions.