Tuva.

History

In the Scythian burial mounds of Arzhan-1 and Arzhan-2, the oldest of them dated to the 9th century BC, archaeologists found more than 9,000 gold ornaments. From 1758 to 1911 Tuva was part of Outer Mongolia under Qing rule, and in 1914 it became the Uryankhay Krai, a Russian protectorate. That same year the settlement of Belotsarsk was founded; in 1926 it was renamed Kyzyl, meaning 'red'. The Tuvan People's Republic existed from 1921 to 1944, after which Tuva joined the USSR as an autonomous oblast.

Culture & traditions

Tuvans speak Tuvan, a language of the Siberian branch of the Turkic family. Tibetan Buddhism reached them through the Mongols in the 18th century, yet shamanic traditions survive alongside it; Kyzyl's Tsechenling Buddhist temple was built in 1998. Tuvan khoomei, throat singing in which one voice produces several tones at once, is known worldwide through Huun-Huur-Tu, Yat-Kha and singer Kongar-ool Ondar. Tannu Tuva postage stamps of the 1920s and 1930s still delight philatelists around the world.

Nature

Tuva is mountain country: its highest point, Mongun-Tayga, rises to 3,970 metres. The Bii-Khem and the Kaa-Khem join at Kyzyl to form the Yenisei. In the south lies the Uvs Lake Basin, shared with Mongolia and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2003. It takes in glaciers, alpine tundra, mountain taiga, steppe, semi-desert and sand dunes, home to the snow leopard, lynx, wolverine and demoiselle crane.

Sport

Khuresh, the national style of wrestling, remains hugely popular in Tuva. Tuvans have skied for thousands of years to hunt elk, and some scholars think they may have been among the first people to master skiing for hunting.

Food & drink

For thousands of years Tuvans herded goats, sheep, yaks, camels, cattle and reindeer, so traditional food is built on meat and milk. Nomadic life, with its seasonal moves to fresh pasture, still shapes the local table.

Practical information

There is still no railway in Tuva, so visitors arrive by air at Kyzyl Airport or by road. Local time is four hours ahead of Moscow (UTC+7). The climate is sharply continental: summer days in Kyzyl reach about +25 °C, winter ones about −20 °C, and record lows have fallen to −54 °C. Summer is the easiest time to travel.

What to see

• Centre of Asia monument in Kyzyl — three lions holding a globe on the Yenisei bank
• National Museum of Tuva — Scythian gold from the Arzhan mounds
• Uvs Lake Basin — glaciers, taiga and dunes in one UNESCO site
• Tsechenling Temple — a Buddhist temple in central Kyzyl
• Mongun-Tayga — the republic's highest mountain

Cities on the map

• Kyzyl 131,981