Seyit Jemaletdin Mosque

Location of the monument: Ak Bugday district, Ahal province.

Period of the monument: 15th century AD

This complex, known by the names Seyitjemaleddin and Metjidi, is truly a very complicated monument and has performed the functions of a metjidi, a tomb, a madrasa and a palace.

The beginning of the study of the metjidi in Anew was started by W.A. Żukowski (in 1886). In 1904 its destruction was caused by R. Pompelli’s American expedition. Under the conditions of Soviet Turkmenistan, i.e., in the 1920s A.A. Karelin and W.R. Tripolski examined the causes of its rise and fall, S.S. Sklářowski carried out its drawing. At various times planning measures (W.R. Tripolski, N.M. Baçinski) were also implemented. In 1947, under the leadership of M.E. Masson, the Central Turkmenistan archaeological expedition (GTAKÄ) conducted a deep and comprehensive study of the metjidi.

Above the metjidi’s inscription, in a large record bearing the name of the ruler of Khurasan, Sultan Abul-Kasym-Babyry (1446-1457 AD), it is written: “This construction was built during the reign of the great sultan, the master of his peoples, the protector of nations and centuries, Abul-Kasym-Babyry Bahadurhan, while the kingdom lasted; may the greatness itself perpetuate his authority and his kingdom forever.”

Other records state that “the Beauty House” was erected by a certain Muhammad for the memory of his father Jemal-ed-dünya-wa-d-din, using his own resources in the years 1455-1456.

G.A. Pugaçenkova confirms in the inscription on the metjidi that the name mentioned is Muhammad Hudaýdot, minister of Sultan Muhammad, and that his father Jemaleddin’s birthplace is Anewdi.

The monument was not completed, because after Sultan Babyr’s death (1457) a period of wars and destructions began.

It is a building made of good baked brick, covered with a short glazed tile. The back wall is faced with iron, and in the house’s courtyard, on the south wall’s surface, there is a shrine decorated with tiles. In its corners, on the south wall’s surface, there are inscribed plaques, which are placed on the outer side of the wall. On the other two walls of the shrine, there are, each in two, deep, high plaques.

The tiled decoration of the back wall is of great value due to its uniqueness, and there are two fierce figures in the form of a pair of eagles extending their necks toward each other. Their yellow‑green winged bodies crawl over a small plant‑patterned glazed fruit tile, and these small plant patterns start from the opened mouth of each bird.

A similar example of the religious depiction of such eagles does not exist elsewhere in Central Asia. Although the depiction of eagles is deeply rooted in the history of Central Asian art, a complete explanation of the origin of the picture in the Anew shrine has not yet been found. G.A. Pugaçenkova gives a more reliable explanation of the meaning of the eagle depiction in the Anew shrine, stating that “this itself is the totem of the main Turkmen tribe that lived around Anew in the 15th century, and perhaps the saint Jelaleddin buried in Anew also belonged to that tribe.”

The thought about the local origin of Totemi (the tribe's religious symbol) that turns around the back of the saddle, its intricate carving and the Arabic inscription on it, as well as the ornaments, which are nowhere else found in the architectural monuments of Central Asia, once again coincides. At the same time, the forms of this carving are characteristic of the Turkmen Eneolithic (copper‑age) wall carvings and its life continues today in Turkmen carpet art. All of this makes it possible to consider the decoration of the Anaw Mosque as precisely the ancient decorative tone inherited by the Turkmen people from their very old ancestors.

Legend:

The people living around the mosque have their own understanding of it. Among them a legend explaining the appearance of such a structure arose long ago. It says:

“Once, at the very base of the city’s stone wall, a tree was planted and a large bell was hung from it. Every traveler who encountered a problem would ring the bell, giving a warning to the city, and the people would come to help and relieve them of their trouble. One time, when the just and prosperous Jamal was governing the country, people heard that the bell was being rung loudly and repeatedly. When they approached the mouth of the window, they saw that a very large, towering wooden post was ringing the bell. That post seemed to indicate something, it leaned toward the mountain, and then, between the two sides standing with cloaks and staffs, it turned toward the mountain. The princess Jamal ordered the staff to follow the post. As they went down the mountain, they saw another wooden post lying heavily, it had lifted the great mountain pass to life, but before its commanded great cities could pass early, the post got stuck on the steep mountain. The staff entered the opened mouth of the post, cut the city gates of the pass with a staff, divided the pass’s meat into pieces, and also broke the post from its base. After that, the first post led the staff to a valley full of treasure and gave them permission to take from that treasure whatever they needed and could carry.”

The next morning the town’s inhabitants were again awakened by the sound of a bell. They also saw two hunters who had come out of the forest, those hunters having brought many gold and precious stones. They placed these items before the queen of the prince and then went away again. Jamal ordered that a large tapestry be made from these valuable items and that the image of the hunters who had brought them be painted on the back of the tapestry. In legend the hunters are portrayed as spirits who protected the people of Ané, and their image, as recorded on the surface of the ruined tapestry, is said to have preserved the “Beauty of the world”.