THRONE OF SOLOMON

Dominating the west bank of the river, the hill of Solomon's throne was called until the 15th century "Bara Kukh", the "Wonderful Mountain". A sacred water source flowed there until the beginning of the last century. Solomon, the mythical founder of Osh, is said to have been enthroned on top of this hill and is also said to be buried there. The legends surrounding the life and death of King Solomon are as numerous as they are contradictory, but have not prevented the hill from becoming one of the most famous holy places in Central Asia over the centuries. And if the mosque built on the hill reminds us that Mohammed himself would have come to worship there, the site was sacred long before the Islamic period, as the rites of the pilgrims, largely tinged with shamanism, still testify. According to archaeological findings on the site, the oldest construction dates back to the Pre-Mongolian period. A mausoleum, erected by Sultan Makhmudkhan, became a high place of pilgrimage until its destruction in the middle of the 20th century. The last Timurid khan, Babur, also had a khoudj built in the 15th century: a small prayer hall with an iwan, probably destroyed by the Soviets (an accidental explosion for which no investigation was able to establish responsibility) and rebuilt after independence. A French woman, Marie Bourdon, who went to Osh in 1877, tells how pilgrims, in order to cure their illnesses, had to stick their heads three times through a crevice in the rock next to the mosque erected by Babur. The hill itself, whose shape evokes the silhouette of a pregnant woman, has become the object of a ritual by all newlyweds (and their mothers) praying for the rapid arrival of a first child. On the left side of the path, during the ascent, you will see a large stone completely smooth: this is where women expecting a child let themselves slide to promote their fertility. Even today, pilgrims still come to Osh every day to climb the hill, rubbing shoulders with tourists for whom the main motivation remains the panoramic view of the city. There is a small mausoleum on the observation platform at the top, where an imam recites continuous prayers. Below, a large Muslim cemetery seems to have partly burned down: the earth is burnt on a good half of the ground. Finally, at the bottom of the hill are the Assaf Boukhia mausoleum and the Jami Ravat Abdullah Khan mosque, which has become a place of worship again since independence.