Kazakhstan bears the traces of an ancient civilisation. Millenia agoits inhabitants, the ancestors of the present-day Kazakhs, engaged in cattle-breedingand farming, and created an original cultural form.

Some outstanding monuments of their cultural life have survived in theform of burial mounds, sites of ancient settlement, fortifications, mausoleumsand even whole towns. Unique among these is an unparalleled masterpieceof medieval architecture, the mausoleum complex of Hodja Ahmed Yasevi.

The mausoleum was erected at the end of the 14th century in the townof Turkestan (Chimkent Region of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic).It is an edifice which reflects many achievements of preceding epochs.In the remote Neolithic and Bronze Ages on theKazakh territory certainconcepts were formed regarding construction techniques and the use of differenttypes of building materials. Studies of Bronze Age settlements and burialgrounds conducted by Soviet scholars have yielded interesting use of stoneand wood by the Kazakhs in their buildings, and the use of clay in ancientedifices. The same period saw developments which later produced the techniqueto construct the sham vault by means of overlapping blocks of stone. Themost impressive monuments of the Bronze Age were memorial edifices.

Building developed most intensively during the Late Bronze Age whenthe principles of constructing the sham vault were established and suchbuilding materials as sun-dried brick and pasha appeared.

Ancient Greek writers mention the prolification of towns in the basinof the Syr Darya and link them to the domestic activity of the Sacae tribes.One can get an idea of their architecture from such monuments as Jeti-Asar,Balandi, Chirikrabat and the Babyshmulla Mausoleum. Referring to the tombof Balandi II 4th-2nd centuries B.C.), built in an area where there existedclose cultural interaction between nomadic and settled tribes, the well-knownSoviet scholar S.P. Tolstov notes the outstanding role of the Syr DaryaSacae in the invention of the sham dome He writes the following: "The discoveryof the dome in an architectural monument of the barbarian steppe tribesto the northeast of Khorezm, who did not know the technique of buildinga dome right up to the Afrigidian times, is a fact of prime importance."

The structures of the lower Syr Darya had circular or rectangular groundplans. Their monumental walls, crowned with domes, were made of sun-driedbrick. Many planning devices used in the buildings of this period and sometown-planning principles and methods of construction in the Middle Ageshad an influence on building as a whole in Central Asia, Kazakhstan, theNear East and Europe.

The Medieval period of the Mongol invasion was marked by the establishmentof feudal relations, the consequent growth of trade and handicrafts anda more marked transition to a settled life. All this resulted in the growthof towns, and building increased accordingly.

Kazahstan and Central Asia were gradually drawn into a vast culturalworld. Scholarly works were written in arabic, a language which was commonto the Moslem Orient, and similar religious buildings were constructedeverywhere. The inhabitants of what are today Kazakhstan and the SovietCentral Asian Republics played an important role in the development ofmedieval culture. In the 9th to 11th centuries the names of some brilliantscholars became widely known such as the great philosopher, mathematicianand musician Al-Farabi, the brilliant physician and philosopher Avicenna,and the eminent scholar and man of learning Abu Raihan al-Biruni. The Karakhanidperiod brought important new cultural archievents in the field of philology.In the 11th century, the Karakhanid Turkish scholar and philologist MahmudKashgari compiled a dictionary of Turkic dialects which is an invaluablesource for the study of Turkic languages. The first major work in Turkishwas Jusuf Balasaguni's poem Kutadgu bilgi. A divan (collection of poems)by the Sufi poet Ahmed Yasevi (12th century) also written in Turkish hassurvived.

The great flourishing of learning and culture in the Middle and NearEast can be seen from the fact that already in the 9th and 10th centuriesspecial arithmetical and geometrical formulac were discovered and usedin architecture. Al-Farabi writes about this in his treatise Enumerationof Sciences: " There are also numerous skillful geometrical devices, amongwhich is the techniqueof directing building."

The arithmetical and geometrical devices for the construction of architecturalforms elaborated in the mathematical works of Al-Farabi subsequently providedthe foundation for the art of building throughout the Near and Middle East.Many of his theses were used later by Eastern scholars. For example, hisBook of Skillful Spiritual Devices and Natural Secrets on the Refinementsof Geometrical Figures, was included almost entirely in works about geometricalconstructions. Giyas-ad-din al-Kashi (14th-15th century),who wrote thetreatise A Key to Arithmetic, also borrowed a great deal of informationfrom Al-Farabi. These mathematical works became widely known among medievalarchitects, and served as practical methods for the construction of structures.References to the great role of mathematics in the art of architecturecan be found in the great Eastern thinkers Avicenna, Biruni and al-Kwarizmi.

An analysis of the many edifices of the age of Timur shows that thearchitects of the 14th and 15th centuries continued to use techniques theconstruction of structures which were developed and used from the 9th tothe 13th centuries and this applies without reservation to the mausoleumof Hodja Ahmet Yasevi.

The flourishing of culture in the pre- Mongol period is reflected inthe development of architecture and the applied arts.

The production of poychrome-glazing was developed.In addition to sun-driedbrick and pasha, baked brick began to be used extensively for large publicbuildings, and alabaster was used as a cementing material as well as fordecorative details. Wide use was made of terra-cotta and glazed tilingin the decoration of facades. Techniques used to make roofs became moreadvanced. Different forms of vaulting and versions of the pointed archappeared, and construction techniques of domes improved. The monumentsof the pre-Mongol period include the Ismail Samani mausoleum in Bukhara,the Aisha-Bibi and Babaj-hatun mausoleums near Djambul, the Rabat-i-Malikfortified caravanserai on the road between Bukhara and Samarkand, the minaretsin Bukhara and Babkent, and the domed mausoleum of Sultan Sanwar in Merv.

In spite of the great damage inflicted on urban life by the Mongol,invasions cultural life in Central Asia and Kazakhstan did not cease. Thecentralised states of the 13th and 14th centuries provided the prerequisitesfor the further development of architecture and the applied arts. The portal-domedtype of mausoleum continued to be developed in Kazakhstan. Striking examplesare the mausoleums of Ayak-

Hamir, Jochi-khan, Sirli-tam, Kok-Kesene and others.The architectureof this period is distinguished by monumental forms and refinement of decoration.The architects tried hard to extend the constructional possibilites ofbaked brick, and complex systems of covering large chambers were developed.

The impressive buidings of Timur, who had united all the Central Asianlands, led to the creation of a magnificent monumental style. The majesticedifices with strongly developed portals and high domes, richly decoratedwith tiled mosaics, were intended to glorify the ruler and reflect thegreatness of the military-feudal state created by him. The town of Yasi(renamed Turkestan in the 16th century) was the scene of Hodja Ahmed'sreligious activity. He spent a large part of his life and was buried here.Written sources reveal that in ancient Yasi, on the site of the presentmausoleum, there was a small mausoleum above the grave of the dervish SheikhHodja Ahmed, where people prayed. Later Yasevi was added to his name whichindicated the city in which he had preached.

The inhabitants of this town had withstood a seven-month Mongol siege.

Also in the town of Turkestan were the tomb of Hodja Ahmed Yasevi'sdaughter Gauhar, the grave of his son-in-law Ali Hodja, the mosque of Bab-Araband many other monuments. Clergy merchants and craftsmen accounted forthe vast majority of the town's inhabitants. No doubt the burial-vaultof Hodja Ahmet Yasevi became, thanks to the offerings of the many pilgrimsand local inhabitants, one of the richest burial-vaults in the world. Itwas no coincidence that one of the khans of the Golden Horde, Khan Tokhtamysh,frequently attacked Turkestan and looted the mausoleum of Ahmet Yasevi.

In the year 1389, 1391, 1394 and 1395 in numerous bloodly battles, Timurdestroyed the power of the Golden Horde and set fire to its capital, thetown of Sarai-Berke. It was in honour of this victory that Timur decidedto build a new, grandiose memorial complex on the site of the old mausoleumof Hodja Ahmet Yasevi, which was by then in need of repairs.

There can be no doubt that Timur was guided not only by religious considerationsfor by this act he was increasing his authority, asserting the idea ofthe inviolability of his power and, a matter of no less importance to him,ensuring the security of his steppe hinterland. / TO BE CONTINUED

Thu, 24 Oct 96