Named after the biblical king Solomon, it’s located in the country’s second largest city Osh (an eight-hour drive or three-hour flight from Bishkek). The 280-acre site was a pilgrimage destination even before Islam first started to be introduced in the region beginning in the 8th century, and it remains sacred to Muslims today - trees and bushes up here are draped with “prayer cloths,” and there’s a shrine alleged to mark Solomon’s grave (women who crawl through a particular opening here, legend has it, will give birth to healthy children). And that modern construction you see is the Sulayman National Historical and Archaological Museum Complex, which holds more than 33,000 items including paintings, sculptures, handicrafts, and historical artifacts.
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