The minaret is all that remains of Balasagun today.
One old man said that his daughter would die from a spider bite on her sixteenth birthday.
To protect her, the khan built a tall tower and kept her daughter in it alone.
Everything was inspected thoroughly to ensure no spider would be able to get in the tower.
On her sixteenth birthday, the khan rushed to her with a basket of fruits.
In his haste, the khan failed to notice a poisonous spider that had concealed itself in the basket.
As his daughter reached for a fruit, the poisonous spider bit her and killed her.
The khan was distraught and cried so loudly, that part of the tower went to shambles.
The Burana tower was originally 45 meters tall.
Inside of the tower there is a small staircase that winds around the walls till the top.
Over the centuries a number of earthquakes caused significant damage to the structure.
The tower was repaired and restored in the 1970s.
Burana tower before restoration works.
Photo:kyrgyzstan-tourism.com
Photo:G Travels/Flickr
Staircase inside the tower.
Photo:Matthias Buehler/Flickr
Photo:Matthias Buehler/Flickr
Photo:Allan Grey/Flickr
Photo:Ninara/Flickr
