Osh. District Center

Descriptions of Osh by Russian and Foreign Travelers

After the dissolution of the Kokand Khanate, the Fergana region was established in its territory as part of the Turkestan General Governorship. The sizes of the new administrative units—districts—were initially determined by the borders of the former vilayets with their bekstans and sarkerstans. In the Osh district, the Bulak-Bashinsk bekstan and the Osh sarkerstans initially remained, but later they were replaced by volosts. The city of Osh became the district center of the Fergana region, with Major Ionov, a companion of Skobolev, appointed as its chief. Here, as in the regional and provincial centers, the imperial authorities decided to establish a new "Russian city," south of the existing old Osh, upstream along the Ak-Bura River. The first builders and inhabitants were ordinary Russian soldiers. From March 10, 1876, when the 4th Turkestan Line Battalion was stationed in Osh, all its personnel spent the entire spring and summer building barracks, warehouses, and new houses. The city commandant became Lieutenant Colonel P. G. Rodzyanko.

Unlike the ancient Uzgen and the well-known "holy" attractions of Jalal-Abad, by 1917, Osh underwent significant changes: it expanded territorially, its population increased significantly, and the composition of its residents changed. However, as before, the quarters near trading and cultural sites remained more densely populated, while the city outskirts were less so, sometimes (especially along the roads leading into the city) transitioning into continuous gardens, fields, and grazing pastures for livestock.

Brief but interesting descriptions of Osh, its old and new city, were left by Russian and foreign travelers. For instance, Guillaume Capu, a participant in the French-Kyrgyz expedition to Pamir in the 1880s, wrote: "From the height of the terrace of the district chief's house... a view of the city of Osh opens before us, resembling a chaotic cluster of yellow adobe houses crowded among tall poplars, like a boulder on a large construction site. At its edge rises an unusually shaped solitary mountain with the white spot of the Takhte-Suleiman mosque on it, or Solomon's throne."

An interesting impression of the new part of the city and its main street was left by the Englishman Dunmore, who visited Osh on December 29, 1892: "We entered a long street lined with poplars on both sides, with quite good coverage. We passed by a large number of one-story houses resembling Indian huts, but built at a significant distance from each other. This street mainly housed officers' houses, barracks for Russian soldiers, a prison, as well as other public institutions—post office, telegraph, various civil and military establishments. There were also several shops located off to the side, under the poplars."

Here is another description left by the Russian traveler I. P. Yuvachev, who visited Osh on March 16, 1907, at the suggestion of the editorial board of the magazine "Historical Herald": "I arrived in Osh in the middle of the night and stayed at the only hotel on the main street of the city. The rooms were relatively clean.

Early in the morning, I was already walking around the city. Behind the cathedral, there is a large square. Around are government buildings. Further on—military.

Along the mountain river Ak-Bura stretches a large garden, as silent and lifeless at this time of year as the Andijan gardens.

On the swift Ak-Bura stands a wooden bridge with artificial embankments on the banks. The dam and dikes show what a struggle the river has in large floods. Rarely does a year go by without the "muddy" (from melting snow in the mountains) water washing away the Ak-Bura bridge. Now they have decided to build a caisson bridge.

I was directed to the other side of the stony river, to the vast park of the district chief. His spacious house is located on a hill among a beautiful grove of trees. This place, very picturesque and healthy, once belonged to the Kokand khans. From here, there is a lovely view of the entire valley of the upper reaches of the Syr-Darya River."

We have provided extensive excerpts about the external appearance of the city of Osh, which were captured in the publications of foreign and Russian travelers, because they allow us to form the most vivid impression of the city. Indeed, it should be noted that there was no particularly sharp contrast between the central part of Osh and its outskirts, which is so characteristic of large industrial cities in European Russia, although overall low density of construction was observed. However, another contrast was emerging and becoming more pronounced, unanimously noted by contemporaries: between the old—"native"—city and its new, "Russian" part created by the imperial administration. Characterizing the old part of the city, a Muslim newspaper published in Orenburg wrote: "As in many cities of Turkestan, in the city of Osh, the houses are built haphazardly, the streets are narrow, uneven, and winding." The new part of the city was already being constructed according to a plan.

The very organization of the urban territory creates one of the features characteristic of each individual city. For the urban lands of Osh, the absolute predominance of extensive estate territory over the relatively small area occupied by market squares, streets, government and administrative buildings is characteristic. Agricultural lands gave Osh, like many other ancient Central Asian cities, an even more semi-rural appearance.