Panjakent, or Penjikent (Tajik: Панҷакент), Penjikent is the only settlement with the status of a city in the region and a city of regional subordination. Located in the Zeravshan Valley, on the left bank of the Zeravshan River, at an altitude of 900 meters above sea level, 48 km east of Samarkand, 240 km northwest of Dushanbe and 270 km southwest of Khujand. The city is rich in its sights, architectural monuments, a wonderful recreation area on the banks of the Zeravshan River.

Archaeological exploration of Penjikent began in 1946 by a Sogdian-Tajik archaeological expedition led by A. Yu. Yakubovsky. The settlement consists of a fortified shahristan - the city itself, kuhendiz - a citadel with the ruler's palace, a rabad - a suburb with separate estates and a necropolis. It was established that the city lived intensively from the 6th to the middle of the 8th centuries. In the first quarter of the 8th century, Penjikent was destroyed by Arab troops and in the second half of the 8th century it was abandoned. Two construction horizons were recorded: the first - the 6th century, the second - the 7th-8th centuries. Remains of fortress walls, a network of streets, two temples, over 100 multi-room two-storey residential buildings, craft workshops and shops have been uncovered on the shakhristan. The houses were built on two floors from adobe bricks and pakhsa blocks. Craftsmen and farmers settled in the suburb of Penjikent. The necropolis consists of small crypts (naus), where the bones of the dead were placed in ossuaries. To 15 kilometers west of Penjikent, near the border with Uzbekistan, there is a large settlement of Sarazm of the Neolithic and Bronze Age (c. 3400 - the second half of the 3rd millennium BC) and demonstrating close cultural ties with the early civilizations of the Middle East. Sarazm was the most ancient center of the agricultural culture of Central Asia north of the Amu Darya. Candidate for the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Tajikistan.
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