Locating the Past: The Case of Takht-i Sulaiman

In 2009 UNESCO added Takht-i Sulaiman also known as Sulaiman Too (Soloman’s Mountain) to its list of World Heritage sites, designating the sacred mountain in Osh, Kyrgyzstan as a location worthy of cultural preservation. Every spring pilgrims frequent the site to ask for assistance in matters of health, relationships, and the afterlife. The mountain also forms a backdrop for the photos of wedding parties and tourists. In the twentieth century, Soviet authorities targeted Takht-i Sulaiman as the site of unregistered and parasitic religious activity. They tore down the House of Babur and set out to refashion the mountain in the absence of its religious elements. How did the Soviets seek to dissuade pilgrimage to Takht-i Sulaiman and how successful were their efforts? Who currently has a stake in preserving the mountain and its structures and what are their goals for the site? Finally, how do new designations for Takht-i Sulaiman affect pilgrims understanding of Islamic piety and devotional practices today? This paper explores how contemporary elites preserve and revise the (pre)Islamic and Soviet pasts and attempt to harness the interpretation of those pasts through architecture, photography, and literature. Through an analysis of ethnographic, visual and written materials, this paper reveals how contemporary everyday pious and devotional practices at shrines in Kyrgyzstan are complicated by the production of historical memory.