THE CITY OF THE RED VALLEY
Chigu (Chigucheng — in Chinese sources "The City of the Red Valley") is one of the oldest cities of the "Issyk-Kul Atlantis" — the residence of the supreme leader of the Usuns, who came from the east of Central Asia. In the 2nd century BC, the Usuns captured the valleys of the Tian Shan, and their supreme ruler occupied the former residence of the Sakas at Issyk-Kul. At that time, the great Chinese traveler and discoverer of the Great Silk Road, Zhang Qian, visited Chigu, which helped establish relations between the inhabitants of Tian Shan and the Han state 2200 years ago.
"In ancient times, there stood a city, above which, on the top of a steep mountain, rose the castle of an old, yet cruel and sensual khan.
One day, the khan heard that in a poor nomad family, a girl of fairy-tale beauty was blooming, and not one brave jigit lost his head in a duel for the possession of the beauty...
But she loved... She herself did not know whom, just one day — in a dream or in reality — a handsome jigit on a white horse appeared to her, embraced her, kissed her, and then took a ring from his hand and put it on the girl's finger, saying: "I will return soon. Never take off the ring, and as long as it is with you, no misfortune will touch you."
When the khan's envoys came to her with rich gifts and an offer to become his wife, the girl fled to the mountains, hoping to meet her fairy-tale jigit again and find salvation. There she noticed that the ring was not on her hand, became upset, and while returning home, fell into the hands of the khan's warriors...
The khan surrounded her with unheard luxury, care, and attention, but the beauty did not wish to become the wife of a cruel ruler. And, once again coming to the girl, the khan promised everything for love, even freedom — in vain.
The khan rushed to the girl, but she, standing by the open window, like a bird, soared into the abyss of the gorge over which the palace stood. And immediately the walls trembled, the arches collapsed, the gloomy castle of the old despot fell, and water gushed from all the gorges. It kept rising until it flooded the great valley." They say that if you go out in a boat to the middle of the lake at night, you can hear a quiet girl's cry.
This is the most romantic legend about the city of Chigu buried beneath the emerald waves of Issyk-Kul. And it, along with tales of winged horses — tulpars, of a brave jigit and a beautiful peri, of a cruel khan with donkey ears, was told to the young Russian scientist-traveler Semenov-Tyan-Shansky by the locals, who spoke of how the lake was formed, why it is warm and salty, etc.
The legend would have remained just a legend, but divers exploring the bottom at a shallow depth began to notice huge blocks of artificial origin, as if pieces of a ruined fortress. It is also known that sometimes a strong storm washed silverware and jewelry ashore, and in the last century, among the sand, fragments of jugs with preserved ornaments were occasionally found.
Some speak of a sunken castle, others — of a destroyed monastery, and others — of the tomb-treasure of Genghis Khan in one of the underwater caves. One thing is clear: something was here, but for unknown reasons, it went under the water, leaving behind only a heap of desperate conjectures and mysterious legends.
Over the years of research, many pieces of evidence have been found of the existence of not one ancient city at the bottom of the lake.
Still many mysteries and undisclosed secrets are kept under the thickness of its sacred waters by the enchanting lake.
Sunken Cities and Lake Issyk-Kul
