Khoja Ahmed Yasawi was a great Turkic Sufi poet and thinker of the 12th century. His influence on the spiritual life of Central Asia was so profound that visiting his shrine three times was once considered equivalent to making the hajj to Mecca.
The mausoleum was built on the orders of Timur (Tamerlane) at the end of the 14th century, as a tribute to the great saint. Inside are thirty-six rooms and halls. In the central hall, covered in blue tile, stands an enormous cauldron cast from an alloy of seven metals, weighing around two tonnes — it was once used to feed worshippers after Friday prayers. Beside it hangs a bronze lamp from 1397, a personal gift from Timur himself.
The mausoleum also houses a pantheon of Kazakh khans, with 43 tombstones — a place where the history of the steppe feels almost tangible. The mausoleum is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List and is rightly considered Kazakhstan's most important spiritual shrine.
