Burana Tower is the most visible remnant of the old city of the Balasagyn city. Built in the 11th century, the tower is thought to have been a minaret. It was originally double it’s current height of 24.6 meters. Historian’s believe the top half to have been destroyed in a 15th century earthquake.
Balasagyn was a city in the Chuy Valley during the Karakhanid Khanate. Excavations have revealed that the double walls of the settlement enclosed 30 sq km, including a fortress, many workshops, bazaars, a bathhouse, and a plot of arable land. Water brought by a large pipe from a neighboring canyon. As the Karakhanid rule was shaken by Mongol invasions, Balasagyn began a slow decline, eventually becoming a ghost town in the 15th century.
Local Kyrgyz tell a Sleeping Beauty-esque fairy tale about the towers origins. According to legend, it was built by a powerful khan who had only one daughter, a beautiful young woman he wished to shield from every hardship. A seer foretold that despite his care, the girl would die on her 16th birthday. The furious Khan built the tower, and locked his daughter away from the world. On her 16th birthday he visited her with a gift of fruit, proud of having defeated the prophecy. To his horror, the girl collapsed before his eyes, and fell dead to the floor. Unbeknownst to him, a poisonous black spider had been concealed among the grapes. In his grief he destroyed the top half of the tower, and left the base as his daughter’s mausoleum.
There are several brick mausoleums nearby the tower, and a museum encompasses the area of the former town. Balbal, Turkic grave markers from the 6th century, and rocks with pertroglyphs from the 2nd century have been brought here for preservation.