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Photo: Petar Milošević, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Commissioned in 1389 for the 12th-century Sufi poet and mystic Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, but never finished. This mausoleum is nevertheless a major destinations for pilgrimages from across Central Asia and has come to epitomize the Kazakh national identity. Since this is a religious place dress accordingly. Shorts are not permitted, and shoulders should be covered. Headscarves are handed out at the entrance of the mausoleum for free. Be warned if you are imagining austerity and sacredness: the site has been thoroughly tourist-trappified, with the grounds and the interior covered in hawker stalls selling mass-produced trinkets. There are even camel and pony rides!
The Mausoleum of Khawaja Ahmed Yasawi is a mausoleum in the city of Turkestan, in southern Kazakhstan. The structure was commissioned in 1389 by Timur, who ruled the area as part of the expansive Timurid Empire, to replace a smaller 12th-century mausoleum of the famous Turkic poet and Sufi mystic, Khoja Ahmed Yasawi (1093–1166). However, construction was halted with the death of Timur in 1405.
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