city · Jizzakh Region

Jizzakh

The regional capital between Tashkent and Samarkand: a city on the site of ancient Dizak, birthplace of Sharof Rashidov and Hamid Olimjon, and home of the famous Jizzakh samsa.

Photo: Solijon Solayev · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

History

Jizzakh lies in the Sanzar valley at the northern foot of the Nuratau, 180 km south-west of Tashkent and 90 km north-east of Samarkand. Its name is usually derived from the Sogdian 'dizak', 'little fortress'. In the 10th century Arab geographers described Dizak as a town in the Faknon district of Ustrushana. The Mongols destroyed it in 1220 and it revived under the Timurids. By the 19th century Jizzakh was the seat of a Bukharan beglik ringed by a double wall and a deep moat; Russian troops besieged and took it in October 1866.

In 1916 Jizzakh was one of the main centres of the anti-colonial Turkestan uprising. The poet Hamid Olimjon was born here in 1909 and Sharof Rashidov in 1917. It has been a regional capital since 1973.

Today

The city sits on the Tashkent–Samarkand highway and high-speed railway. Mahalla names such as Kipchak, Kangli and Saroy recall the ancient clans who lived here. The Jizzakh samsa, a 300–400-gram pastry with a whole chunk of tail fat inside, has become the city's culinary emblem.

Sources (6)

Jizzakh

Places here

Museum · Jizzakh

Sharof Rashidov House Museum

The family home of a writer and Soviet-era leader

Museum · Jizzakh

Hamid Olimjon and Zulfiya Museum

A madrasa devoted to two poets

Archaeology · Jizzakh

Qaliyatepa (old Jizzakh citadel town)

The remains of Dizak, the 'little fortress'

Jizzakh

Getting there

Airport, railway station and bus stations — addresses, timetables and the live board.

All transport

OMN Airport · Nearest Zomin Airport ≈ 52 km as the crow flies Live board

Railway Jizzakh Station 31 trains

Bus station Jizzakh Bus Station Jizzakh’s bus station is in the south-east of the city; many buses from Tashkent to Samarkand, Bukhara and the south pass through Jizzakh.

Jizzakh

From Jizzakh to other cities

Road distance, the fastest train and whether there is a direct flight.

All distances

City	Road, km	By car	By train	Flight	Bus
Zaamin Jizzakh Region	65	1 h	—	—	—
Samarkand Samarkand Region	100	1 h 36 min	46 min Afrosiyob 768Ф	—	—
Gulistan Syrdarya Region	111	1 h 45 min	50 min Afrosiyob 767Ф	2 flights	—
Kattakurgan Samarkand Region	171	2 h 43 min	2 h 4 min Sharq 712Ф	—	—
Shahrisabz Kashkadarya Region	177	3 h 6 min	—	—	—
Tashkent Tashkent (city)	223	3 h 18 min	1 h 44 min Afrosiyob 767Ф	2 flights	—
Karshi Kashkadarya Region	250	3 h 33 min	2 h 50 min Nasaf 716Ф	—	—
Navoi Navoiy Region	259	4 h 15 min	2 h 47 min Sharq 712Ф	—	—