Old Urgench was one of the greatest cities on the Silk Road. Its foundation is uncertain, but the extant ruins of Kyrk Molla fortress have been datet to Acheamenid period (550-330 BC). The 12th and 13th centuries were the gold age of Urgench. In 1221 Gengis Khan razed it to the ground in one of the bloodiest massacres in human historie. The city was revived, but the sudden change of the Amu-Darja river ( in early times called Oxus)and the destruction by Amir Timur (Tamerlane) in 1370, forced the inhabitants to leave.

Kunya Urgentch is a sacred place of pilgrimage.