Kozy-Korpesh and Bayan-Sulu mausoleum

Kozy-Korpesh — Bayan Sulu mausoleum — 10th–11th centuries. architectural monument. Eastern Kazakhstan region, Ayagoz district, near the village of Tangsiq, on the right bank of the Ayagoz River.

Description

The base of the mausoleum is a rectangular platform (external dimensions 7.10 × 7.10 m, internal dimensions 3.38 × 3.38 m), tapering upward and surrounded by a dome. Height is 11.65 m, height from ground to the dome is 4.35 m. The wall is made of granite slab stone with a mixture of clay, thickness 1.86 m. The entrance door faces east. The south‑east wall has a hole measuring 0.7 × 0.5 m (at a height of 2.3 m on the wall). Next to the Kozy‑Korpesh – Bayan Sulu mausoleum there were four stone statues. Their depiction was first recorded in 1771 by G. Voloshin on paper. The stone statues showed three women and one man. According to folk legend, the first woman is Bayan Sulu, the second is her sister Oygiz, the third is her sister Aytangsiq, and the man is Kozy. Unfortunately, these stone statues have now disappeared. Local legends say that the Kozy‑Korpesh – Bayan Sulu tomb and the stone statues beside it were made by Taylaq bi, the brother of Sariboy.

Research history

In the years 1768–1774, during the second research expedition organized by the Russian Empire in the Kazakh steppe, X. Bardanes wrote about the preservation of the stone building named Kozy‑Korpesh along Ayagoz.

In the years 1840–1843, during A. I. Shrenkin’s study of the historical monuments of Central Kazakhstan, information about the mausoleum was encountered.

In 1856, Cho‘qan Valixonov drew the mausoleum and the stone statues located around it on paper.

In 1915 the famous historian A.N.Beloslyudov's letter to G.N.Potana titled “Qozi Ko‘rpesh – Bayan Sulu dostonin o'rgangan” contains the following lines: “…I have visited the Qozi Ko‘rpesh-Bayan Sulu mausoleum twice. Its (4 statues) statues are missing. The mausoleum is leaning to the side and is collapsing. According to my late brother (Viktor Nikolaevich), the statues were taken to Germany. Beloslyudov predicted that the height of the mausoleum had decreased from 18 meters to 11–12 meters.”

The 1952 archaeological expedition of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR led by Alkey Xaqanuli Marg'ulan.

In 1982 the mausoleum was included in the list of monuments of historical and cultural significance of the Kazakh SSR and taken under state protection.