Nature · Qo‘ng‘irot District
Ustyurt Plateau
The stone desert between the Caspian and the Aral
Archaeology · Qo‘ng‘irot District
Beleuli Caravanserai
Ruins of a medieval caravanserai on the road from Khorezm to the Volga (14th century, or by other accounts 11th). A tall gateway with reliefs of two lions survives.
History and layout
Beleuli stood on the caravan road from Saraychik to Khiva across the Ustyurt, between the Aral and Caspian seas. Most scholars date it to the 14th century, some to the 11th. Sergey Tolstov’s Khorezm Expedition examined it in 1946 and the 1950s, and Kazakh restorers in 1982. It was a two-storey building of 14 rooms, seven per floor, with a heating system and a well in the middle of the courtyard. Two pillars about 8 metres high and the gateway survive; the upper part of the arch is faced with red brick and carries reliefs of two lions.
