Arystan Bab, the mausoleum-mosque
Arystan Bab Mausoleum-Mosque has a historiographical tradition, divided into pre-revolutionary (I.T. Poslavsky, A. Cherkasov, I. Aristov, A. Clare, A.A. Kalinn, A.A. Divayev, K.G. Zaleman, I.A. Kastanye, etc.), Soviet (V.V. Bartold, A.A. Semyonov, M.Ye. Masson, V.V. Konstantinova, M.M. Mendikulov, K.A. Akishev, V.L. Voronina, O. Doszhanov, M. Sembin, G.A. Isabayev, B.T. Tuyakbaeva, G.M. Kamalova, Yu.A. Yolgin, M.B. Khodjayev (Kozha), R.M. Mustafina, etc.) and post-Soviet (M.B. Kozha, Yu.A. Yolgin, A.K. Muminov, S.Sh. Akymbek, N. Nurtazina, etc.) stages. A certain contribution to the hagiography of Arystan Bab was made by foreign Islamic scholars (M.F. Kyopryulyu, J.S. Trimingham, Devin DiUis, etc.).
Arystan Bab has undergone a long and complex evolution. It is possible to present it in such a form: the first building is constructed in the XII century; it is destroyed and in the XIV century by order of Timur another mausoleum is constructed. Once again, the building was completely restored in 1860-1870s - the eastern block of gurkhana, followed by the reconstruction of 1909. Another link in this chain was named - the XVIII century. The last major reconstruction dates back to 1971.
The monument is widely known and revered due to the popularity of Arystan Bab (Arslan Bab), the teacher and spiritual mentor of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, as well as the proximity to the hillfort of Otrar. A preliminary visit to the Arystan Bab Mausoleum is one of the mandatory stages in the pilgrimage (ziyar) to the mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi.
The cult of Arystan Bab is a synthesis of Arab-Turkic-Iranian mythological ideas adapted in legends and tales of the Otrar-Turkestan historical and cultural region. As a result, Arystan Bab becomes an indispensable character of folk Islam among the Kazakhs of South Kazakhstan. The sacred history of the monument is formed on the basis of these legends and tales. At their source - an ancient cult of natural forces (wind Arystandy) and water objects (the river and the canal, bearing a name Arystan-su, Arystan-aryk, etc.). Islamization of the cult led to the formation of Arystan Bab's hagiography. It includes features of the South Arabian legends about the Koranic people Adits, whose heroes possessed huge growth and lived hundreds of years (according to the legend, recorded by A. Cherkasov, Arystan Bab lived 300 or even 600 years, was a Batyr, as well as a gardener and taught the Prophet to cultivate gardens). Further development of the cult of Arystan Bab refers it to the descendants of Imam of Kaisanits Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiya (d. 700). In addition to his name is added the Kaisanit-Shiah title of a Bab ("gate"). At the stage of hadithic studies in the X-XI centuries he became a 340-year-old associate of the Prophet Muhammad - Abu Jaffar Muhammad ibn Nastur al-Rumi. According to Abu Hafs al-Nasafi (d. 1142), he transferred 14 hadiths directly from the Prophet in Farab. At the Sufi stage of the formation of the cult of Arystan Bab, he transformed into another companion of the Prophet - Salman al-Farsi (d. 637), a long-living man who was instructed by the Prophet to pass on his heritage in the form of a date (nahla, persimmon) as a sign of spiritual knowledge and blessing of the Prophet to Khoja Ahmed Yasawi. In the family tree of Turkestan khojas he is his elder contemporary, closest relative (uncle on the father's side). The legend also tells the story of his life and activities in the vicinity of Farab (Otrar), where he becomes the spiritual head of the Mubayidits. When Khoja Ahmed Yasawi turned 23, as one of his "Diwan-i Hikmat" lists says, Arystan Bab died and was buried in the area of Kabut-Yarik near Otrar.
Arystan Bab is often called a complex, although architecturally it is not. It can be considered a complex in terms of functionality. Its main parts are connected with the ritual of worship and remembrance of the venerated saint. The building (the main dimensions are 35×12 m, height 12 m, built of burnt brick on alabaster mortar) is stretched along the facade. It consists of a two-chamber tomb (gurkhanas), the premises of which, square in the plan, are located enfilade on the east-west axis. In the first of them there is a hypertrophied tombstone of Arystan Bab, in the second - smaller tombstones of his students and followers: Hermet-Azyra, Karga Baba, Lashyn Baba. Both rooms are covered by spherical-conical domes of the same size and shape. Initially, the entrance to the tomb was decorated in the form of an iwan with two wooden carved columns, preserved from the construction of the XIV-XV centuries. This building was destroyed and in 1860-1870 was rebuilt. The ancient columns on the iwan were moved inside the mosque attached in 1909 to the mausoleum. The mosque has a sub-square shape and consists of a spacious prayer hall and two offices on the sides of the entrance in the eastern part. The role of a connecting link is taken over by a high extended corridor, covered by a lancet arch. On the facade it is highlighted by a lancet arch with buttresses. The portal room plays the role of a kind of lobby - it opens the entrances to the tomb and mosque.
Guldasta towers, traditionally called minarets, flank the northern, main facade.
The left minaret on the corner of the gurkhana with a deaf lantern never served its purpose. Wooden steps lead to the right minaret on the northwest corner of the mosque from outside. It has an open lantern and access to the roof.
The plan has three main axes: 1) the axis of the vaulted corridor; 2) the longitudinal axis of the gurkhana perpendicular to it, which divides the corridor in half; 3) the axis of the main entrance to the mosque, leading from the corridor, also perpendicular to its axis, but shifted to the south relative to the longitudinal axis of the gurkhana.
The constructive scheme of transition from square in terms of gurkhana's premises to the bases of the domes is a traditional tier of arched sails (tromps) with intermediate thyroid sails. In the walls of both rooms of the gurkhanas there are arches of box construction. The arches of sails have a semi-circular shape (influence of Russian-European architecture).
The mosque was demolished and rebuilt in 1971. The walls along the perimeter of the foundation are made of burnt bricks. At the same time, the apsoidal projection of the mihrab niche in the western wall, which was cut, acquired a semicircular shape. The main facade, originally made of burnt bricks, is not affected by this reconstruction. The ceiling of the prayer hall of the mosque is beam, wooden, with a board dome in the center, based on three pairs of carved wooden columns expanding upwards.
The main facade appears to be the final stage in the construction of the monument, which may have united the gurkhana's architecturally built in 1860-1870s with the mosque of 1909. It consists of the facade wall itself, flanking its minarets and horizontal frieze. The center of the composition is the portal entrance, which is notable for its light forms and decorative details. The symmetry of the facade is broken by two domes above the gurkhana. The composition as a whole is original and expressive. The courage lies in the free, not limited by the laws of the order architecture of the use of a variety of artistic units - from the Muslim minaret to the ancient Russian keel-shaped coconut. Expressiveness is provided by the ordered placement of these elements, understanding their role in the composition of the facade. Large architectural elements and small decorative details on the main facade are made in the technique of textured brickwork. The portal arch frames the entire end of the vaulted corridor on the main facade. Its giant gesture is softened by the abundant brick decor, and door and window apertures on the main facade look insignificant and casual. The archivolt of the arch (or rather its cheeks) is decorated in the form of rectangular "bars" laid out of three bricks placed on the edge. These "rusts" are arranged vertically. Between them a gap of about two bricks is made, which creates an additional play of light and shade. The original decorative turrets are located at the heel of the arch. They visually limit the dynamic tension of the arch. They are designed in the spirit of local architectural tradition - in the form of decorative guldasta towers, completed with semicircular domes. Their thin trunks are designed by narrow shallow niches laid out with small shaped bricks. The same bricks are made by their elegant cornices. Curtain rails made of such "breadcrumbs" separate the turrets from their faceted bases. These peculiar "pinakls" are loaded on the buttresses framing the arched opening. Counterforces are vertical ribs designed to strengthen the supporting wall, taking on a horizontal spacer. They have a continuously inclined surface. The front surface of the buttresses is treated in the form of flat rectangular vertical niches with a round socket in the center.
Renaissance origin (originally church gables) has an architectural element erected above the portal arch. It forms a bizarre and unique silhouette of the portal, denotes the vertical, which did not allow it to lose next to the elevated domes and expressive in its simplicity minarets. This decorative wall above the arch contains order elements, leveled with brickwork. The gable has not a triangular, semi-circular or shellow end, but an ogee end. This detail is borrowed from the "Russian" style.
Horizontal facade division is underlined by a frieze, a solid strip fringing the top of the facade wall. It consists of simple, but expressive elements - fielded panels. They represent horizontally located rectangles buried relative to the wall surface, inside which there are relief, smaller in size rectangles with rounded in corners. The friezes are separated from the wall by a cornice of "breadcrumbs" lined with small bricks.
The construction inscription in one of the cartouches of the decor, containing the date - 1327 AH (1909) and the autograph "Usta (master) Kalmyrza ben Musapir Turkistani" are preserved.
Architectural monument of republican importance. Since 1982 it has been under state protection. The object of pilgrimage and religious tourism. It is the core of a religious and ethnographic complex with an area of about 17 hectares, including various services for receiving visitors.