Photographer and educator Margaret Morton spent three summers in Kyrgyzstan (2006-2008). During one of her visits she photographed the great bazaar in Osh, which was demolished during the recent conflict. Here is her brief account of that visit and her recent communication with people she met during her stay.

The city of Osh is among the oldest settlements in Central Asia, located at a crossroads along the ancient trading routes that became known as the Silk Road. The exotic, sprawling bazaar that until recently was the center of urban life, was one of the largest and most crowded outdoor markets in all of Central Asia, stretching for about a kilometer along the bank of the Ak-Bur River.

Everything needed is sold in the bazaar. Kygyz and Uzbeks worked side by side in stalls that sold goods ranging from colorful Kyrgyz embroidery to geometric patterned Uzbek silk; spices and dried fruit to freshly slaughtered sheep.

Blacksmiths forged horseshoes, tinsmiths cut ornamental trim, carpenters carved elaborate baby cradles, bread was baked fresh in clay ovens then stamped with floral motifs, fortunetellers cast stones to predict the future and gypsies passed through the stalls with burning herbs to chase away evil spirits and invite prosperity.

In 2008, after I left Osh to return to Bishkek, I spent a few days at the family home of a Kyrgyz friend in a village on the Uzbekistan border, 100 km north of Jalal-Abad, a former Silk Road trading city that also has been devastated by violence. She sent me an email on June 15 that her family's "Uzbek neighbors had fled to Uzbekistan two days earlier just to feel safe and there was no hostility towards them from the Kyrgyz. The Kyrgyz were guarding their neighbors' houses and will do so until they return. We are all praying that this violence ends soon and people return to their homes and begin a normal life..."

Margaret also supplied links to a report on the devastation of the city of Osh, which appeared in The Huffington Post, and a link to a recent report about the market in the New York Times. Please visit her website for more photographs from the bazaar at Osh, and the Cemeteries of Kyrgyzstan.

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