Alasha-Khan Mausoleum

Alasha Khan Mausoleum – a unique architectural monument in Kazakhstan built by folk craftsmen of the 15th–16th centuries, included in the list of republican significance historical and cultural monuments of the Ulytau region.

Location

The mausoleum is located in the Ulytau region, Ulytau district, on the right bank of the Karakengir River, 2 kilometers from the village of Malshybay.

The tomb is quadrangular, built of red brick with a dome. The exterior is decorated with various brick patterns. The types of patterns, especially on the entrance façade, are adorned with images of an eastern carpet.

Architecture

Alasha Khan’s dome stands on a high ridge on the bank of the Karakengir River (in the floodplain of the Sarykengir River) in Ulytau. Scholars associate the dome with the Karakhanid dynasty and with the architecture of the Oghuz‑Kipchak period (10th–13th centuries). Researchers still propose new hypotheses (including 15th–16th century builders), but the dome’s weathered, deformed state and its decorative technique, unlike any other monument, point to later periods. The Alasha Khan dome belongs to the portal‑dome architectural type. Area – 9.73 × 11.9 m. Height – 10 m. Built of fired red brick. Their sizes vary: 230 × 14 × 60 mm, 260 × 230 mm, 320 × 320 × 60 mm, etc. From the building a drum about two and a half meters high (231 cm) was erected on which the dome rests. The drum consists of four shrinking tiers. These multi‑faceted, cylinder‑shaped tiers have diameters of 743, 673, 643 cm. The height of the entrance portal arch and the two flanking tower sections is unknown. Their drum portions above the starting point have been destroyed. The entrance on the left side has a narrow stairwell. Through it one can ascend to the second circular level of the dome (the drum gallery) and from there exit onto the mausoleum via the side of the portal arch. Nothing remains of the thinly patterned glass‑clad covering of the portal and dome. Over time, travelers must have taken the tiles away. The original appearance of the Alasha Khan dome can be imagined by comparing it with contemporaneous monuments sharing similar architectural models. In this respect it is mainly linked to the Karakhanid period architectural style known as Saljuq art. Monuments of this type are often found in Turkmenistan. The Alasha Khan dome can also be compared with the mausoleums of Aisha Bibi (11th–12th centuries), Jochi Khan (13th century), and Khoja Akhmet Yassaui (14th century) in Kazakhstan. Especially striking is the similarity with the decorative motifs of the Blue Mausoleum building near ancient Syganaq.

By arranging bricks of various colors and sizes in the Alasha Khan dome, a geometric image was created, and the decoration of all surfaces of the dome, resembling a patterned carpet, served as a model for the later tombs of Talmas Ata, Zhuban Ana, Bolgan Ana, Kayyp Ata, Duzhen, and Erden. In 1894, the Russian orientalist E.I. Schmidt, in “Sketches of the Kyrgyz Steppe,” wrote about the glass‑like white plaster and blue plaster, the four arches of splendid proportion, which are also found in the shrines of Aisha Bibi and Khoja Akhmet Yassaui.

History

In 1855 we encounter the first written data about the shrine in Sh. Valikhanov’s article “Kyrgyz‑Kaisak Tribes and Their General History.”

In 1868 the shrine was first comprehensively described in Lieutenant Colonel Krasovsky’s work “The Region of the Siberian Kyrgyz.”

In 1945‑1946, during the expedition led by M.B. Levinson, the first photographic fixation, technical study, and measurement work were carried out.

In 1946, under the leadership of the Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR, archaeological research work began in the monument area.

In 1982 the Alasha Khan shrine entered the list of historically and culturally significant monuments of the Kazakh SSR and was placed under state protection.