Qumshyq Ata Mosque

Qumshyq Ata Mosque — an underground archaeological monument built in the X-XII centuries. It is located in an open field about 1 km southeast of the Khoja Ahmed Yasawi complex in the city of Turkestan.

A monument of republican significance. The architectural structure made of burnt clay is typical of Central Asia and the southern regions of Kazakhstan. Coordinates: 43˚17.421′, 068˚16.523′. Elevation above sea level 228 m.

Religious-spiritual monuments – mysterious abundant artifacts that have reached us from centuries past in our country's history. In the southern regions of Kazakhstan, the construction of mausoleums began in the H-HII centuries. One of them, belonging to the XII-XIX centuries, is the Saint Qumshyq Ata mausoleum under the jurisdiction of the “Aziret Sultan” National Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve. According to legends and stories among the people, Saint Qumshyq Ata was highly regarded by our ancestor Yasawi as his teacher. Our ancestor Yasawi, like Qumshyq Ata, adhered to a strict ascetic degree and spent his life in the underground mausoleum worshipping God.

Intended for the religious ceremonies of the Sopi. The Qumshyq Ata mosque is a two‑room, elongated (about 10 m) narrow‑corridor building with a door at the entrance, a cave‑type structure. It is made of square raw bricks. The niche at the top has a size of about 2 × 2 m, a height of 1.6 m, and its roof is covered with a domed roof. Adjacent to it a circular vaulted house dome with a diameter of about 2.5 m and a height of about 2 m is covered with a dome. The corridor is curved, the main structure is made of burnt bricks, and it is covered with a dome. From the middle level of the roof a well‑like opening, about 1 m in diameter, is made, letting light into the corridor. Because the door leading to the underground mosque is broken, the steps of the staircase are not defined. The walls of the mosque and the corridor are woven from square burnt bricks. The room walls have small cavities for placing chandeliers. The interior structure of the building is not plastered. The underground mosque is associated with the saint Qumshyq Ata who lived in the X–XII centuries. Research confirms that the Qumshyq Ata mosque has been a place where people gathered and religious sermons were held since the 12th century.

Archaeological investigations

The underground chamber of Qumshyq Ata is located 1 kilometer southeast of the shrine of Khoja Akhmet Yassaui. Its height is 3.3 m, its length is 15.4 m, and the diameter of its domed room is 3.1 m. At the beginning of this ritual structure there is a rectangular opening. The opening serves as a door to the chamber and continues with a narrow, curved corridor. The corridor leads to a circular‑shaped room, which is the main room of the chamber. This main circular room ends with a quadrangular final room. The ceiling of the circular room is domed, and the quadrangular room is closed by the “balkhi” method. Small cavities for candles are made in the walls of the rooms. The corridor is arched in a curved form and, like the main rooms, is made of burnt bricks. In the middle of the corridor there is a well‑shaped opening for letting in light.

In 1972-73, the Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography of the Kazakh SSR and the Ministry of Culture of the Kazakh SSR organized a joint archaeological expedition and conducted research. In 1985, restoration work was carried out, and in 2013 it was restored again, the interior was conserved, and the upper part was closed. In the 1994 collection of the "Register of Historical and Cultural Monuments of Kazakhstan" for the South Kazakhstan region, it was entered with the number No. 590.12 and taken under state protection.

The religious and spiritual complex of Saint Qumshyq Ata primarily serves the religious customs of the Sufi order, namely dhikr recitation, receiving instruction from the local master, pir‑sheikh of the Sufi order, training, and providing a place where newly initiated murid‑students undergo the initial 40‑day trial, isolated and taught underground. This structure is not a mosque but a type of underground cell (khalwat‑onashalan) that combines a khanqah and a dhikr hall. It can be used for dhikr (circular room), preaching, and for the retreat (four‑cornered khanqah room). Additionally, it serves as a place for performing the five daily prayers, reciting the Qur’an, and as a daily Jami mosque and Friday prayer venue for the residents of the adjacent quarter; the regular neighborhood mosque was built over the tomb of Saint Qumshyq Ata (see picture No. 1). The plan shows a 9 × 9 m room with a mihrab, covered with a dome; the mosque and the hallway in front of it lead on the right side to a 15.4 × 8 m annex. Beneath the floor of this room is the underground cell of Saint Qunshyq Ata, which can be accessed through a four‑cornered hatch (room) at the head of a 9.5 m underground passage. In the passage (corridor) a round hatch was made 4 m in, allowing light and air from above; it rises 1.5 m and protrudes 20 cm above the floor, with a diameter of 90 cm. The total length of the passage‑corridor is 9.3 m, width 1 m, height at the entrance 1.8 m, narrowing to 1.2 m at the far end. The inner diameter of the round chamber at this point is 3.1 m, outer diameter 4.1 m, wall height up to the base of the dome 1.5 m, the dome’s own height to its inner apex 1.4 m, and including the dome thickness the height from the floor reaches 3.3 m (see picture No. 2).

From the round room one can go to the four‑corner prayer room, whose interior wall dimensions are 1.6 × 1.7 m, the interior height of the dome is 2.2 m, and the exterior height is 3 m. The prayer room was built somewhat earlier than the Zikrkhana (round) room, the entrance door width is 45 cm, height is 1.5 m. Its external dimensions are 2 × 2 m, the dome starts at 1.5 m, the dome is now formed not in a “roof” shape but by the “balkhi” method, curving and ending, and on the top of the dome’s tip a lock 70 cm high is placed (picture 2).

After the building was completed, its top was covered with earth (thickness 60 cm above the dome’s tip), leveled, and a room 16.2 m long and 8 m wide was built on top. On both sides of this room long corridors and a mosque and a hallway entered the OSh surface, the total length of the construction is 28 m, width 15 m. Outside the mosque there was a courtyard, a takharatkhana, a mustahabkhana and all of these were surrounded by a wall, gate, with overall dimensions 50 × 30 m (picture 1).