UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites are a collection of intriguing destinations from around the world.  According to the UNESCO website, the sites are selected to “to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity.”

Once a week, as part of our new “World Heritage Site of the Week” series, we will profile one of these sites and look at what you would need to travel there. The first World Heritage site in the series is also one of the newest to be added to the list: Sulamain-Too Sacred Mountain in Kyrgyzstan.

What makes Sulamain Too sacred?  The mountain is believed to be the final resting place of the Islamic prophet Sulamain.  There is a shrine that marks what is believed to be his grave, as well as sacred caves and springs  that are thought to have miraculous curative powers.

However, according to UNESCO, the mountain has always been sacred to the local people, even in pre-Islamic times. UNESCO says that “the mountain is an exceptional spiritual landscape reflecting both Islamic and pre-Islamic beliefs and particularly the cult of the horse.” In addition to mosques and shrines, the mountain is also full of archaelogical treasures like caves with petroglyphs.

During the heyday of the Great Silk Road, Sulamain-Too beckoned travelers to the nearby city of Osh, where several trade routes converged.

To visit Sulamain-Too, you need both your passport and a Kyrgyzstan visa. Tourists can get a Kyrgyzstan visa on arrival at the airport, but if you enter the ccuntry by land you do need to get a visa in advance.  Your passport must have at least 1 full blank page, so make sure you check it before you apply.

Here are the documents you will need to get a Kyrgystan visa:

1 visa application form

1 passport photo

Your US passport (with at least 1 blank page in the back)

The standard Kyrgystan tourist is visa is single-entry. For multiple entry visas, you will also need a visa support letter from the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Also, the US Department of State notes that you may need transit visas for surrounding countries, like Kazakhstan and Russia. RushMyTravelVisa.com can research your itinerary and help you determine what visas you will need for your trip. We will also help you with the application paperwork and forward your documents to the appropriate embassies and consulates for expedited processing.

Need visa help? Contact us today!

Tags: Kyrgystan, Kyrgystan visa, Kyrgyz Republic, UNESCO World Heritage Sites

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 13th, 2009 at 4:49 pm and is filed under World Heritage Site of the Week. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.