Almat-Tamy, the mausoleum and the cemetery
The monument is located 22 km east-southeast of Yrgyz settlement and is a small cemetery, the main object of which is a monumental memorial building - the mausoleum of Almat Tobabergenuly and his descendants (Yrgyz district, Aktobe region).
The cemetery appeared in the 30s of the XIX century as a family beyit of the family of Shomekei Almat Tobabergenuly, well-known in the Northern Aral Sea region, subdivision Bozgyl-shobdar (years of life: 1804-1892, or 1893). His father Tobabergen Kiikbaiuly (1766–1841) was one of the first to be buried here, as evidenced by the swollen raw fence with kulpytases. Almat was a major public, cultural figure, official; in his youth, he actively participated in the intermediary caravan trade between Bukhara and Russia, early joined the Russian culture and language. He participated in the expeditions of P.I. Demezon, I.V. Vitkevich, was acquainted with the artist V.V. Vereshchagin and many other historical personalities of that time both from the Kazakh and the Russian environment. Grandfather and great-grandfather (Kiikbay, Alibek) were batyrs. He was the clan of a large group of Yrgyz Kazakhs, until 1868 - the head of the 54th administrative distance, he had the rank of an ordinary cornet, and popularly he wore the title of sardar.
As a progressive figure of his time, Almat Tobabergenuly was an active supporter of the transition of nomadic Kazakhs to a semi-settled and sedentary lifestyle. They built several capital brick and wooden manor houses on the Yrgyz. Being a large cattle owner, at the same time, in his many-sided activity, he took into account the interests of ordinary herders (sharua) and was respected by the people. He was related to the famous Kazakh batyr Eset Kotibaruly. Had a highly educated family; one of the sons of Almat, Samurat (1842–1922), was also a prominent administrative figure for many years. The descendants of Almat were among the founders of the Yrgyz Folk Theater. Many of them were repressed in the late 1920s – 1930s.
The object has a high level of sacrality among the local population, a significant group of the Kazakh population of the North Aral region and the lower reaches of the Syrdarya. In 1994, the mausoleum was surrounded by a security fence, and memorial plaques were installed in front of it with a list of persons buried there from the end of the XIX century (only 20 people), a memorial sign - kulpytas with a portrait of Almat Tobabergenuly and the years of his life.
The monument on the grave of Almat Tobabergenuly is a unique multi-chamber mausoleum, erected during his life by the folk architect Giga around 1886–1888. The construction is an outstanding example of the national architecture of the Kazakhs of the XIX century, it is distinguished only by an original compositional planning solution and decor. It has the status of a local architectural monument.
The family beyit formed around the mausoleum is represented by several swollen raw fences with stelaes kulpytases, as well as new monuments. The main structure of Almat is a seven-dimensional building rectangular in plan (12.70 × 12.10 m), the walls of which are made of mud brick and are lined on both sides. The central hall, rounded in terms of the plan, is revealed by arched openings in five adjacent chambers with crypts for burials in an archaic ritual resembling Zoroastrian traditions (when burial of another dead, the bones of the previous one were moved into a pile in the corner of the chamber and the body of the dead was put in the empty space). All chambers were overlapped with domes, and in the central and north-eastern chambers, arches and trompas were used to reduce the span. In all these rooms there are crypts for burials. The frieze of the central hall is decorated with decorative belts, between which a belt of ganch tiles with stamped ornamentation is arranged. From the outside, the mausoleum was also well decorated, as evidenced by the partially preserved facing of the southwestern facade (three-part breakdown of the wall plane by means of vanes, waistbands). In general, the architect managed to create an outstanding monument, harmoniously linking the compositional planning and functional features of the original memorial structure. The sons of Almat are also buried in the mausoleum: Kosmurat, Prmakan, Toremurat, Makmurat and other descendants.
The monument has been in emergency condition for many years and requires security, restoration and conservation work at the state level, including it in tourist routes.