Shrine of Ahmad Yasavi
Type:
Mausoleums,
Religious complexes,
Iwans,
Shrines
Date:
1389–1405
Location or Findspot (Modern-Day Country):
Kazakhstan
Description:
Timur (also known as Tamerlane; r. 1370–1405), a Turkic soldier in the Chagatai Khanate, rebuilt the mausoleum of a Sufi mystic, Ahmad Yasavi (1093–1166), who is credited with converting the Turkic-speaking people to Islam. The shrine in Yasa (modern-day Turkistan) has an imposing entrance iwan (unfinished at time of Timur’s death) and the largest dome in Central Asia (diameter of 18.2 meters). The tomb of Yasavi is located in a smaller domed chamber at the center of the qibla wall. Although the shrine is incomplete, it preserves many of the features that would become common to Timurid architectural, including huge domes and geometric revetments of plain and glazed bricks.
Relevant Primary Sources
Relevant Primary Sources
Relevant Textbook Chapter(s):
10
Repository and Online Resources:
• Visit the page for the mausoleum on UNESCO's World Heritage List.
Image Credits:
Wikimedia Commons; Navid Jamali
