Tash Rabat, the Stone Inn of the Mountains
High in a remote valley of Kyrgyzstan stands a domed stone building, all alone. Legend says a tunnel runs from it all the way to Kashgar in China.
What was reported
Tash Rabat is a stone building in a mountain valley of the Tian Shan, about 3,500 metres up, near the border with China. It has a central dome and about 30 small rooms, and it's usually described as a caravanserai, an inn for traders on the Silk Road.
Local legends tell of a secret tunnel that led from it to Kashgar, more than 100 kilometres away, of hidden treasure, and of people who went into its passages and never came out.
Explanations offered
Historians think it was built by the 1400s, perhaps on the site of an older Christian or Buddhist monastery, and served as a shelter on a mountain trade route. There's no evidence of a tunnel to Kashgar. It's been restored and can be visited.
- When
- Built by the 1400s
- Where
- Tash Rabat, Naryn, Kyrgyzstan
- Witnesses
- Travellers and historians
- Status
- Purpose debated
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.