Kulob is a city in the Khatlon region of Tajikistan, one of the oldest cities in the country. Located in the valley of the Yakhsu River (Pyanj basin), at the foot of the Khazratishoh ridge, 203 km southeast of the city of Dushanbe. 82 thousand inhabitants according to 2003 data.
The name of the city apparently comes from the Tajik kulob - "lake water", or kulob - "wetland", "thickets".
The city was first mentioned under its modern name in the 13th century.
KulyabThe city of Kulyab, which celebrated its 2700th anniversary in 2006, has been an important political, trade, economic and cultural center of the vast Khatlon region for many centuries. The city was on one of the branches of the Great Silk Road and had close trade, economic and cultural ties with many countries of the East and West.
In the Middle Ages, it was the center of the Kulyab Bekdom of the Bukhara Khanate. During the Middle Ages, the city of Kulyab was an important political, economic and cultural center. A large number of maktabs (schools) and madrasahs (higher educational institutions) functioned here. Various handicraft productions and trade were developed, literary and scientific circles were active. In the XVII-XIX centuries, forty poets lived and worked in the city of Kulyab. The most famous of them were Naseh (Abdurahmon Khoja), Khoja Husaini Kangurti, Bismil, Shokhin and others. The remains of buildings and mausoleums found testify to a highly developed culture of architecture and construction.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Kulyab was the largest city in Eastern Bukhara and had 20 quarters. Various types of crafts were highly developed, including weaving (high-quality silk fabrics: brocade, alochi, kurtachi, suzani), jewelry, pottery and leather production, carpentry, as well as the production of knives, horse harness, weapons and other metal products. Trade was developed in the city, there were bazaars. Kulyab was famous for its embroideries (gulduzi and chakan), which have a unique original shape and color.
In Soviet times, the status of the city received in 1934.