Kitob District

Setting and nature

Kitob District lies in the north-east of Kashkadarya Region, bordering Chiroqchi and Shahrisabz districts, Samarkand Region and Tajikistan. Created in 1926, it was merged with Shahrisabz District in 1962 and re-established on 25 December 1968. It covers 1,750 km² and had 287,700 people in 2025; the centre is the town of Kitob.

Most of the district is taken up by the Zarafshan and Hisor mountains, rising to 4,000 m, which shelter it from cold winds and give it the mildest climate in the region, with about 545 mm of rain a year. The Great Uzbek Highway south from Samarkand crosses the district over the 1,788-metre Takhtakaracha Pass.

What to see

Kitob town is home to the international latitude station opened in 1930, and the mountains to the east hold the Kitab Geological Reserve, founded in 1979. The Hazrati Bashir shrine stands on a juniper-clad hill in Bashir village. Near the village of Kumyrtepa lie the ruins of ancient Nautaka, Padayaktepa, Uzunkyr and Sangirtepa, where a Zoroastrian temple, one of the oldest religious buildings in Central Asia, has been excavated.