Gauhar Ana mausoleum

Gauhar Ana mausoleum – a monument of architecture included in the state list of republican significance historical and cultural monuments.

Location

The mausoleum is located 4 km south of the city of Turkestan, 400–500 m to the left of the Turkestan‑Shauildir highway. Its elevation above sea level is 174 m.

Historical data

Gauhar Ana mausoleum is one of the sacred sites near the Khoja Ahmed Yasawi mausoleum. According to widely spread legends, the mausoleum and the burial place are closely associated with the name of the daughter of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi who was buried here.

There is no information about when Gauhar Ana died. However, assuming that Ahmed Yasawi was born in 1101–1103 and married at the age of twenty, it is hypothesized that Gauhar Ana was born around 1122–1124.

Since 1989 it has been placed under the jurisdiction of the “Aziret Sultan” state historical‑cultural reserve museum, protected, and in May 2011 archaeological work was carried out and a number of data were collected.

According to the longtime chief keeper of the museum, later director, elder O. Dastanov, and based on folk legends, Gauhar Ana was a being with special healing properties. It was originally built of burnt bricks, its architectural project similar to the present Rabia Sultan Begim mausoleum, but it was a smaller mausoleum. In the 1940s of the 20th century the mausoleum collapsed.

Mausoleum description

The mausoleum building, erected in 2015 from burnt bricks, was constructed in the medieval style according to its plan and external appearance. Its height is 9 m; according to the plan it is a square portal mausoleum 6 × 6 m. Inside the mausoleum a vaulted stone chamber covered with various claddings was installed. However, according to information from local elders, initially on the burial site there stood an ancient blue‑dome mausoleum in the exact appearance of the Rabia Sultan Begim mausoleum, but smaller.