Özkent Türbeleri

The mausoleums of Ösgön are significant architectural monuments in Ösgön, a city in the Osch region (oblast) of the Central Asian Republic of Kyrgyzstan.

History

After the Karachayids conquered large parts of Transoxiana, including the Ferghana Valley, from the Samanids in the years 990–992, the present-day Ösgön became the capital of one of their sub‑states and, after Balasagun and alongside Kashgar and Samarkand, one of the four centers of their empire. From Ösgön, the ruler Arslan‑Ilek Nasr‑ben‑Ali († 1013), who governed there from 996, finally conquered Bukhara in October 999, the capital of the Samanids, Samarkand and the rest of Transoxiana, and until 1213 Ösgön was the capital of the Karachayid branch ruling the Ferghana Valley.

From this flourishing period of the city in the 11th and 12th centuries three well‑preserved mausoleums originate. They are located in the archaeology‑architecture‑museum complex, a park‑like open area near the city centre. The three structures are built adjoining each other so that they appear as a single building, but they date from different construction periods. They are made of fired reddish‑brown bricks, with impressive wall and façade ornamentation on the west‑facing portal side, and belong to the few early Islamic buildings that survived Genghis Khan’s conquest of Transoxiana in 1219/1220.

Description

The oldest and largest of the three is the central one, the mausoleum of the conqueror of Bukhara and Samarkand, Arslan‑Ilek Nasr‑ben‑Ali († 1013). The 12 m high structure has a square floor plan of about 11.5 m side length. Ornamental terracotta and carved alabaster with geometric and vine patterns adorn the front façade around the portal. This emphasis of the entrance was a new stylistic element at the time. The portal niche is spanned by a keystone arch resting on two engaged columns and is surrounded by decorative friezes with early forms of arabesques, called girikh. The interior, surmounted by a small central dome on an otherwise flat roof, has doors on three sides and a niche on the east side and contains several reliefs and friezes with pre‑Islamic motifs.

The rectangular mausoleum of Jalal al-Din al-Hussein, built in 1152 on the north side, is characterized by its surface ornamentation that decorates the entire façade. It has a base area of 12.2 × 10.2 m and is about 10.5 m high, also with a flat roof and a small central dome over the interior space. The building is one of the best‑preserved examples of early Islamic architecture. Not only the whole façade but also the engaged columns, the pointed arch, the inner sides of the portico and the soffits of the portal arch are decorated with fine terracotta patterns. The archivolt of the pointed arch is adorned with Naskh script, the lintel of the portal with Kufic inscription.

For whom the southern mausoleum built in 1186 was erected is no longer known; it is the smallest of the three, with a height of only about 10 m and an interior space of merely 6.4 × 6.4 m base area, but also the most richly decorated with ornaments, arabesques and inscription friezes. The portal area contains inscription bands in Naskh and Kufic, combined with stars, crosses, floral and vine motifs.

The Minaret of Ösgön

About 150 m northwest of the mausoleums, on the north side of the park area, stands a 27.5 m high minaret, probably a model for the minarets built by the Karachayids in Bukhara and Vobkent. The upper part of the originally much taller tower, which tapered upward from its 8.5 m‑wide base, was destroyed in an earthquake in the 16th century. Today it is crowned by a dome above an observation platform.