The Khodja Akhmed Yassawi’s mausoleum-khanaka in Turkestan—the peculiarity of centuries-old development and prospects

Abstract

The mausoleum-khanaka of Khoja Akhmed Yasawi in Turkestan has been actively investigated for almost 200 years. In parallel, repair and restoration work is actively underway. However, the now widespread version of the centuries-old sequence of construction of the complex is questionable. A comparative analysis of archaeological research conducted in the 1930s and 1950s, modern architectural planning, and compositional studies by authors of this article allowed us to confirm previously unemphasized assumptions and draw innovative conclusions: At the end of the fourteenth century, not a new building was being built, but several buildings of different times from the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries were combined into one building by covering the courtyard with a dome and building a portal with corner towers;The exterior cladding combined the facades of individual pre-existing blocks;The Main Dome has not been completed, as it should be double, not single;The Portal and corner towers continued to be built in several stages throughout the sixteenth century;—the portal and the main dome must be completed in accordance with the design plan of the late fourteenth century to prevent the ongoing destruction of the monument.The early completion of the centuries-old construction of the Mausoleum-khanaka will be of great cultural and historical importance.

Keywords

• The Central Asian architecture
• a reconstruction
• a restoration
• a renovation
• a rebuilding, a tourist center
• Heritage management & conservation