Astana Ancient Tombs

Known as the "Underground Museum" and widely valued by Chinese and foreign archaeologists and historians, this group of ancient tombs is 40 kilometers southeast of Turpan city proper and 6 kilometers from the ancient city of Gaochang. It had been the public graveyard of ancient Gaochang people with an area of about 10 square kilometers. Astana means "capital" in Uygur and Karakhoja is the name of a legendary hero of the ancient Uygur Kingdom who removed the evils from the people by killing a vicious dragon. Since 1959, 456 tombs have been excavated and thousands of cultural relics have been unearthed. Besides hundreds of dried up bodies, there are murals depicting figures, birds and flowers on display in the three tombs. Altogether 2,000 documents were unearthed, with content covering political, economic, cultural and military developments of Gaochang City. Now three tombs have been opened to visitors. Besides dried-up corpses, there are murals depicting figures, birds and flowers on display in the three tombs.