You can learn about the glorious past of Khujand at the Historical Museum of the Sughd Region. The museum is located in the ancient Khujand fortress, reconstructed in 1999. The fortress existed here even before the Arab invasion in the 8th century, was destroyed several times and to this day only fragments of the fortress walls remain here.
The museum was created in 2006 on the basis of the Local History Museum of the Sughd Region - the oldest museum in Tajikistan, founded back in 1931.
The museum's collections number more than 30 thousand items. The exhibition includes dioramas of prehistoric life, a hall of Hellenism with original mosaic panels of colored marble depicting the life of Alexander the Great, who founded here the most remote of his cities, Alexandria Eskhatu, and a monumental statue of the Tajik folk hero Temurmalik, famous for his resistance to the Mongol invasion in 1219. The museum also widely displays ethnographic exhibits, including rare Tajik handmade carpets, Tajik embroidery and costumes, and household items.
Part of the exhibition is dedicated to the medieval history of the fortress. It talks about the culture and occupations of the city's residents, presenting examples of medieval ceramics and utensils, fragments of decorative elements of architectural structures, glass items, and gravestones with inscriptions. Among the masterpieces of the museum collection are a Saka helmet, ceramics from the ancient, Hellenistic and medieval periods.
