Yasaui Mausoleum
This astoundingly beautiful, tiled mausoleum with a turquoise dome is home to Kozha Akhmed Yasaui. The main chamber is capped with an 18m-wide dome, above…
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Turkestan
At Turkestan (Туркестан) stands Kazakhstan’s greatest architectural monument and most important pilgrimage site: the mausoleum of Kozha Akhmed Yasaui. It was built by Timur (Tamarlane; 1336–1405) in the late 14th century on a grand scale comparable with his magnificent creations in Samarkand, and has no rivals in Kazakhstan for human-made beauty.
Turkestan was already an important trade and religious centre when the revered Sufi teacher and mystical poet Kozha Akhmed Yasaui came to live here in the 12th century. Yasaui was born at Sayram, probably in 1103, underwent ascetic Sufi training in Bukhara, then lived in Turkestan, dying here about 1166. He founded the Yasauia Sufi order and had the gift of communicating his understanding to ordinary people through poems and sermons in a Turkic vernacular, a major reason for his enduring popularity.
Turkestan makes an ideal base for day trips to Sauran and Otrar.
Explore Turkestan
- Yasaui Mausoleum
This astoundingly beautiful, tiled mausoleum with a turquoise dome is home to Kozha Akhmed Yasaui. The main chamber is capped with an 18m-wide dome, above…
- SSauran
Some 48km northwest of Turkestan stand the best preserved and most atmospheric ruins of all the many ruined Silk Road cities in the Syr-Darya valley. Its…
- HHistorical-Cultural-Ethnographic Centre
This big, proud new museum has three floors of colourful exhibits on regional history, from prehistoric petroglyphs and household implements of the Kazakh…
- MMausoleum of Rabigha-Sultan Begum
This small building with a tiled turquoise dome is actually a replica of the 15th-century original (which was torn down in 1898). Rabigha-Sultan Begum was…
- HHilvet Semi-Underground Mosque
On a small hill within the Yasaui Mausoleum grounds stands the low-slung 12th- to 15th-century Hilvet semi-underground mosque, with the cell to which…
- FFriday Mosque
This 19th-century mosque displays a wooden minbar and some religious items dating back to the time of its construction. The wall outside the mosque and…
- HHistory Museum
The History Museum, in the Yasaui Mausoleum grounds, focuses mostly on Kozha Akhmed Yasaui, Sufism and Islamic learning. There are models of the Yasaui…
Top attractions
These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Turkestan.
- See
Yasaui Mausoleum
This astoundingly beautiful, tiled mausoleum with a turquoise dome is home to Kozha Akhmed Yasaui. The main chamber is capped with an 18m-wide dome, above…
- See
Sauran
Some 48km northwest of Turkestan stand the best preserved and most atmospheric ruins of all the many ruined Silk Road cities in the Syr-Darya valley. Its…
- See
Historical-Cultural-Ethnographic Centre
This big, proud new museum has three floors of colourful exhibits on regional history, from prehistoric petroglyphs and household implements of the Kazakh…
- See
Mausoleum of Rabigha-Sultan Begum
This small building with a tiled turquoise dome is actually a replica of the 15th-century original (which was torn down in 1898). Rabigha-Sultan Begum was…
- See
Hilvet Semi-Underground Mosque
On a small hill within the Yasaui Mausoleum grounds stands the low-slung 12th- to 15th-century Hilvet semi-underground mosque, with the cell to which…
- See
Friday Mosque
This 19th-century mosque displays a wooden minbar and some religious items dating back to the time of its construction. The wall outside the mosque and…
- See
History Museum
The History Museum, in the Yasaui Mausoleum grounds, focuses mostly on Kozha Akhmed Yasaui, Sufism and Islamic learning. There are models of the Yasaui…
Guidebooks
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