The Tere-Khol Lake

The Tere-Khol is a lake, situated at South-East of the Republic of Tuva, ten kilometers west from the village of Kungurtug. It is situated in tectonic hollow at height of 1300 m. On the Tere-Khol there is an island, where are situated the ruins of Uigur fortress Por-Bazhyn, built in VIII century B.C.

The lake keeps many mysteries, which scientists try to solve even nowadays. The water seems light-green because of algae. But at the one-color mirror-surface, almost from bank to bank, lays a clear black stripe, which origin is still a mystery.

The mystery of the Por-Bazhyn fortress and the Tere-Khol Lake gives many legends. One of them says: “Long time ago here on a flat field, in a large castle lived a khan. On day his servant saw a fish in water well and reported on this to the khan. He looked at this and said:» There are worms here, I will not drink this water!” The water got angry at such stupidity and began pouring out of the water well. The khan had to run. He turned around and shouted: "Tere Hur!" (in Mongolian it means “This is a lake.” ). The water flooded the whole field and a lake appeared. And the castle remained on the island“.

Last century there a sensational hypothesis was set up that the lake appeared as a result of artificial flooding of the castle, which had been built in the valley.

Obelisk of Central Asia

The Obelisk of Central Asia is the main attraction of the town of Kyzyl and is a symbol of the Republic of Tuva, which symbolizes a geographical center of Asian part of the continent. The obelisk is located on the bank of the Yenisey river (the Ulug-Hem river), where the street Komsomoliskaya joins the embankment.

In its actual shape, the obelisk represents a two-meter basement made of marble, with a big sphere with contours of continents is placed on it. A ten-meter three-edged steeple is going from the globe to the sky. The words “Center of Asia” is written in gold on the stage in three languages (Russian, Tuvinian and English).

The monument was built in 1964 for the 20th anniversary of the voluntary entry of the Tuvinian People’s Republic to the USSR. Project’s authors are the painter V.F. Demin and architects V.I. Bazhin and V.P. Vetchinov.

Tsars’ Valley

On the highest steppe hollow of Tuva, Turano-Uiykskaiya hollow, surrounded by peaks of Uiykskiy and Kortushibinskiy mountain ranges, by villages Arjan and Tarlyk, there is one of the most wonderful natural-historic monuments of South Siberia. Local inhabitants call it “Tsars’ Valley”. There are a lot of chains of big barrows, which are the graves of families and tribes of chiefs of Scythian times. Chains, probably, reflect blood relationship of people buried there.

The most famous barrows of the valley are “Arjan 1” and “Arjan 2”. The first barrow has a diameter of 120 m and it is composed of bear stones with a spring in the center and big wood structures inside. Besides the ancient chief, there were also found 16 people and 160 horses buried there. Despite the fact the grave has been ransacked in ancient times, the archeologists could find a lot of precious findings – the parts of horse relay, jewelry made of gold and silver, coins, luxurious wool clothes, remaining of clothes made of sable’s fur and famous silver nameplate in a shape of a panther caked in a ring. Excavated in 1971 – 1974, the barrow is dated to IX-VIII centuries B.C.

Barrow “Arjan 2”, which is 2700 years old, was discovered in 2001. This is a grave of 80 m long, and it belongs to a noble married couple. In this grave there were also found the remains of the chief people and horses. Near people’s remains there was discovered jewelry made of gold, copper and amber, metal weapons, combat armours, tableware and other. Total amount of gold taken out of the grave is about 20 kg.

Ush-Beldir

Ush-Beldir is considered one of the nicest places of Tuva. In Tuvinian this name means “confluence of the three”. Here is situated the confluence of three major rivers of Tuva – the Shishigt-Gol, the Busin-Gol and the Belin, forming the turbulent Kyzyl-Hem. Thermal springs located in this place are famous by their medicinal features.