Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi

I visited this WHS in June 2017. This site is the main reason I included Kazakhstan on my Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan trip and I'm glad I spent 2 nights in Turkestan as the mausoleum didn't disappoint.

Even after having visited Uzbekistan's Timurid monuments, this mausoleum still ranks as one of the most grandiose and best-preserved in the region. The mausoleum alone can be visited in less than an hour but it would be a great pity not to revisit at different times of the day (if you're lucky enough to visit on a sunny day) to view the intricate geometric designs and turquoise and blue tiles with the best light conditions.

Moreover, most of the pilgrims visit just after sunrise or just before sunset and go round the main building touching the walls and stopping every now and then to pray. Even though entrance to the mausoleum and all the other buildings is from 9am till 6pm, the whole complex exterior can be visited freely at any time of the day. The fact that it is still an active pilgrimage site adds to the whole experience in my opinion. In the morning the best lighting is on the reconstructed fortification walls and main entrance gate, while in the later afternoon, the best lighting is on the rear part of the mausoleum and its domes.

There are UNESCO signs all over the place even in front of buildings which have nothing to do with the inscription. However, there is a simple makeshift sign …

Beyond the value of the building itself there were 2 aspects of our visit to the Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi in May 2017 which we found of interest – first, the extra insight and impetus it gave us for understanding the developing place of religion in contemporary Kazakhstan (a theme we followed throughout our tour of the country) and second, the way in which the UNESCO site had been defined and presented. First the building itself and the logistics.

The Mausoleum dominates the town of Turkistan - we drove up from Shymkent in the morning, stopping off at the T List site of Otrar and the Arystan Bab Mausoleum (another nearby pilgrimage site) for an hour or so on the way, had lunch in Turkistan, gave the mausoleum and the surrounding area a bit over 2 hours and then drove on to Aksu-Zhabagly, by-passing Shymkent on the way back by following the main highway. The mausoleum is set in the centre of what was once the old city of Turkistan and is the only extant original structure from the city’s pre-Russian era. Various buildings nearby and a part of the walls have however been recently reconstructed but, around the Mausoleum and within the boundaries of the old city, lies a vast archaeological zone of decaying mud walls of ruined buildings and abandoned “digs”. The nearby museum was once a barracks and was constructed by the Russians from bricks ransacked from another of the tombs inside the perimeter. The …

Site visited April 2014. The grandiose Timurid era mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi is the highlight of Kazakhstan and also one of the highlights in Central Asia.

I flew from Almaty to Shymkent which is the usual hub for visiting the town of Turkestan. From my hotel I took a bus to Shymkent central bazaar where I changed to marshrutka. The journey to Turkestan lasted three hours. At Turkestan bus station I took a taxi to the site. It was a sunny and warm spring day and the site was full of local people.

The mausoleum is very impressive and you really feel yourself dwarfed by its sheer size. Especially the entrance portal is huge. It is easy to notice that the front facade is unfinished. There are lots of birds nesting in the holes of entrance portal. Backside of the mausoleum and the domes have flawless and brightly colored tiling. The other side of the mausoleum is surrounded by thick walls. Around the mausoleum there is an archaeological site where you can visit several smaller buildings.

While the exterior of the mausoleum is detailed and colourful, the interior is very plain, simple and white. There are lots of rooms which contain various valuable objects. Photography is not allowed inside but I remember that it was so packed full of people that I just walked with the flow from room to room.

It is interesting that according to this website’s statistics this is one of the least visited World Heritage …

Anyone who visits the mausloeum fells dwarfed by the magnificence of the building and the atmoshpere of spirituality which pervades the structure. When I visited the site entrance was free.If you are in the city of Turkestan you will not have problem finding the mausoleum ,because all taxi drivers, actually everyone knows where it is.Once you are there, you should defninitely go inside and visit all the chambers including the burial-vault, which is preceded by wonderfully carved doors. Be sure to visit the chamber with a well. Khoja Ahmed Yasawi spent last years of his life in this well, because he didn't want to live longer than the Prophet.