Crossing the road from Turabeg Khanym Complex to the side of the minaret, the path through a modern cemetery and the 19th-century Sayid Ahmed Mausoleum leads to the Gutlug Timur Minaret, built in the 1320s. It’s the only surviving part of Old Urgench’s main mosque. Decorated with bands of brick and a few turquoise tiles, its 59m-tall minaret is not as tall as it once was, and leans noticeably. It’s interesting to note that there is no entrance to the minaret – it was linked to the adjacent mosque by a bridge 7m above the ground. Since that mosque was destroyed, the only way into the minaret is by ladder. There are 144 steps to the top, although you can’t climb it now.
