The Departure of the Aral Sea as an Analogy of the Drainage of Cultural Ecosystems. Khorezm in GES-2
- Eugene Pustoshkin
- Aug 10
- 3 min read
This post was translated by AI
An exhibition dedicated to the Khorezm expedition is being held at GES-2 . Khorezm is an ancient historical and cultural region in the Amu Darya delta, surrounded by a desert where the Aral Sea once was. An article from the exhibition brochure describes the great departure of water, a quote I will give below. Isn't it just as unexpected that the waters of various cultural currents and eras depart from the shores of our lives? How many of them have disappeared into the abyss of time, when the currents of history unexpectedly changed their course, like the Amu Darya, which the Arabs called the Jeyhun River: “Unbridled”…
"[I]t is known where good intentions lead. The country needed cotton and rice, and for this it needed water. The intensive and often unsystematic digging of canals and dams without observing technologies, the construction of cascades of hydroelectric power stations and hydroelectric complexes on the Syr Darya and Amu Darya, and the targeted policy of taking water from the Aral Sea for irrigation ultimately led to a man-made catastrophe and the almost complete disappearance of one of the bluest and fishiest seas on earth.
In the late 1950s, the Khorezm expedition worked in Karakalpakstan, on the southern shore of the Aral Sea, in the area of the southern cliff of the Ustyurt plateau. Describing the new socialist way of life and customs of the people who inhabited the Amu Darya delta and the southern coast of the Aral Sea, which was still full-flowing at the time, the expedition involuntarily captured in their reports, diaries and photographs the last days of the Venice of the Aral Sea - Muynak and Urga, where there were river channels instead of streets, and the inhabitants moved along them in boats, pushing aside the thick green reeds with their hands. Yes, it was sometimes difficult here, but people had inhabited this coast for two thousand years, making a living from fishing and maritime trade. True, there was always a problem with fresh water. But it was solved. In the 1950s, boats with fresh water regularly approached the villages <…>.
The Aral Sea began to recede in this area. Scientists have repeatedly predicted its shallowing: it was assumed that the water level would decrease by 6-7 meters in 200-300 years. They were wrong: the water level decreased by 22 meters 40 years after the first calculations.
According to eyewitnesses, the sea retreated for the first time overnight by 30 meters in 1962. The locals began digging canals in a panic to save at least part of their fishing fleet that suddenly found itself on dry land. Trying to connect the port of Muynak with the open sea, they dug a 22-kilometer-long canal in a matter of days, refusing to believe that the process was irreversible. But in the end, the sea quickly retreated by more than 180 kilometers. It is hard to imagine what people felt when they left their houses the next morning and did not see the sea on the shores of which they and their ancestors had always lived. Now, instead of the Aral Sea, there is a huge takyr with the dried skeletons of dead ships stuck to it. The water has gone, taking an entire civilization with it."
— Irina Arzhantseva , “The Smell of Takyr” (Bolelov S. et al. Not fused, not separate: Notes on layers. Exhibition collection. April 3 – September 28, 2025. Moscow: House of Culture “GES-2”, 2025. Pp. 8–9). Translated from Russian by AI
