Excursion tours to caravanserai Tash-Rabat.

"The huge building of Tash-Rabat is based on a contour on a plane horizontally elongated in a square of 32 m, which, as it rises, is deposited from the front facade of the building to the rear recess by 3 m, that is, the entire height of the rear facade, as a result of which the side facades are half from the diagonal of the lower corner of the front facade to the upper corner of the rear, visible on the surface, and the entire rear half of the building is also diagonally in the ground."

Orientalist and local historian N.Pantusov "About Tash-Rabat". 1901.

Legends and traditions of Kyrgyzstan.

Tash-Rabat was considered among the nomads as an "undoubted miracle" and was regarded as something "supernatural". The unusual appearance of the building gave rise to many legends among the surrounding population.
The belief recorded by Ch. Ch. Valikhanov, A. Voitsekhovich and V. K. Zmievsky that the number of rooms in the building changes with each new account (and still exists). Folk legends recorded by travelers associate its construction with various names and events and, as noted by N. L. Zeland, are implausible and contradictory.
According to the legend cited by V.V. Bartold in the “Essays on the history of Semirechie”, the builder of the building is considered to be the Moghulistan ruler of the XVIth century. Abdullah Khan, and in his "Report on a trip to Central Asia for a scientific purpose", there is a legend according to which Tash-Rabat is a fortification of the Chinese, "invading this area from Ak-Su".
Against them, the Koshoy-Korgon fortress was erected by the hero Koshoy, an associate of the legendary Manas. A. Voitsekhovich's article also conveys two legends to us. One of them reads: “A long time ago, there lived a certain khan who had two sons.
The khan equally loved his sons and recognized them as smart and capable of inheriting the administration of the khanate, but since he did not want to divide his state into two parts, and he did not know which of his sons to give preference to, he decided to test them, for which, having called to himself, announced to them the following:
“My children! I love you early and find you worthy to govern the khanate, but I do not want to divide my state, and therefore here is my decision for you: go in different directions, settle among your people and decide what is needed for the prosperity and happiness of your subjects.
The sons have departed. Enough time has passed. The elder, having come to the conclusion that the power of the state lies in the armed force, began to build fortresses on the border of the khanate. One was built near the city of Osh, and the other - the described Tash-Rabat.
The younger acted differently. He found that the same could be achieved much better by the development of agriculture, trade and industry, the improvement of the life of the subjects and the spread of literacy among them.
By his actions he earned the love of his people; and at the same time he inherited the khan's throne. The second legend tells that a terrible flood was sent to the inhabitants of this area, who angered the god, in which the entire population died except for two pious father and son. In gratitude for the salvation, the father decided to build a large building in the desert, not far from the city, as a reminder to the descendants of God's mercy.
The construction that had begun was interrupted by the appearance of a beautiful pari, who carried her son with her. Similar legends are also given in the works of A. M. Fetisov, V. V. Bartold and N. N. Pantusov. The latter at the same time notes: “This legend is refuted by the fact that, judging by all the signs, this building existed in a completely completed form for a long time.”
Two more legends from N. N. Pantusov's article "Tash-Rabat" tell about aliens "from Rome". In one case, these are the holy father and son, who did not complete the construction of the castle, in the other, they are “religious brotherhood”.
“Many years ago, when the Kara-Kyrgyz were not yet orthodox, but worshiped fire, pouring lard on it and worshiping in front of a lamp, an intelligent man came to this region from Rome, a tribe of Arabs, with people subordinate to him by religion, and that’s all they did not profess the same religion as that of the Kara-Kirghiz.
Like a mighty batyr, he, along with his subjects, began to build an unusual building, which was built in a short time; having settled in it, they began to teach the people who lived in this area, and give shelter to those in need; after a long time, the chief rector disappeared somewhere, and the rest of the people were taken prisoner and taken away by the people advancing at that time from west to east. N. N. Pantusov considered this legend plausible and assumed that it refers to “newcomers Nestorians” who founded a monastery in Tash-Rabat.
In 1904, in his Notes on the Antiquities of the Semirechensk Region, N.N. Pantusov reports from the words of the Kirghiz that Tash-Rabat was built by the Bukhara Khan Abdylla during a campaign against the Kalmyks.
He drove the Kalmyks from the conquered lands of Turkestan and, wanting to perpetuate his name, built 1001 rabats along the entire path of conquest: Tash-Takyr in the Aulie-Ata district, snowstorm towers in Uzgen and Tokmаchka, Tash-Rabat in the At-Bashinsky area and Kok -rabat in the Kashgar province.
A hundred years later, the Kirghiz, who returned to the At-Bashinsky valley with Khan Urman at the head, found Koshoy-Korgon abandoned by the Kalmyks. This fortress was used by the batyr Koshoy, who was in the service of the Aulie-Ata Khan Manas and ruled the Kirghiz from Tash-Rabat to the Tekes River.
Near Tash-Rabat, he set up an advanced guard post against the Kalmyks who were on the other side of the Tien-Shan Range. The betrayal of Koshoy's wife, who conveyed the news to the enemy about the small number of the Kyrgyz army, contributed to the capture of the Koshoy-Korgon fortress by the Kopal commanders Joloy and Konurbay.
Thus, as already noted by A.N. Bernshtam, in the people's memory, the emergence of Tash-Rabat, in contrast to the nearby Koshoi-Korgon (Atbash settlement), is not associated with the activities of the local population.
The reason for the inconsistency of stories about medieval buildings in the river basin. Naryn V.V. Bartold sees in the absence of information about the Kirghiz in this area before "Tarikh-i Rashidi". According to the Chinese manuscript of 1770 "Xiyu Zhi", the Kirghiz "escaping from unrest" appeared in the Tien-Shan mountains in the middle of the XVth century.

Authority
"Tash-Rabat", S.Ya. Peregudov. 
https://www.informer.kg/ru/tash_rabat/histiry/8529.html