That is frontier fortress of ancient Khorezm, which is located 26 kilometers to north-east of Turtkul town. Under the plan, it is a trapezoidal structure with the size of 350×230 meters, the corners of which are oriented to the cardinal points. Until nowadays, outer walls made of clay and large-size bricks, are relatively well-preserved. Angles, together with inspection semicircular towers protrude from the walls of nearly 18 meters. The archaeological excavations here found many bronze artifacts and ornaments of ancient and medieval pottery, as well as coins of the time.
One of the scariest legends is connected with this fortress, which states: «Once, Guldursun was called Gulistan that meant a flower bed of roses. It was a very beautiful city, which was ruled by an old Sultan, who had a beautiful daughter. But suddenly, a trouble came; hordes of the Kalmyks swooped from the steppe, sweeping away everything in their path. Kalmyks besieged city. The inhabitants fought bravely, however, the siege lasted not a day or two. Several months passed, all stocks were eaten, starvation came.
Then a sultan convened the council and one of the viziers proposed a cunning plan. Residents took one of the remaining bulls into the palace where it was fed to satiety with the remaining grains from the royal granaries. After that, it was released outside the city walls. The Kalmyks, whose also were extremely hungry, caught and killed this bull. But when they saw that its stomach was full of selective grain, they demanded the military chief to stop the siege. After all, if the deposited people feed cattle such a way, then they are surely in no need of.
Therefore, the city is impregnable. And everything would happen to the joy of the besieged, but the treacherous Guldursun, who was secretly in love with the leader of the Kalmyks, sent him a letter, which described the true state of the city and asked him not to leave, promising that the fortress will fall soon. Kalmyks left; thus, the city fell and was burned and looted. And when the traitor was led to Kalmyks’ Tsarevich, he looked at her and said: «If she had betrayed her own father and her people because of the passion, what awaits me when someone else will awake her heart? Tie her to the tails of wild stallions, so that she will not be able to betray someone else. »
A treacherous beauty suffered from a terrible death. But since that time, the place was called in her honor — Guldursun.