Nur Fortress (Alexander's Fortress)

On the hill above the Chashma spring stand the worn ramparts of a large fortress. Local tradition, repeated in every guidebook, holds that it was founded by Alexander the Great during his campaign in Sogdiana in 327 BC, and that the town took its first name, Nur, from it. The link with Alexander cannot be proved, but the site was clearly fortified for many centuries to guard the spring and the route between the oases and the steppe.

What you see

The walls are made of rammed earth and mud brick, now softened into long ridges and mounds that follow the shape of the hill. Paths lead up from the spring to the highest point, where the plan of the citadel can still be traced. Below the fortress, archaeologists have identified traces of kariz, underground water channels that once carried water from the hills to the fields.

Visiting

The climb is short but steep in places, on loose ground. From the top you look down on the domes of the spring complex, the flat roofs of Nurata and the Nuratau ridge stretching east; in the late afternoon the light over the desert edge is beautiful. Combine it with the spring, which you pass on the way up.