Turkestan is both the past and the present. A junction on The Great Silk Road, on the threshold of the great steppes and agrarian settlements, it was traditionally a trade and cultural center. From here, Sufi Khodja Ahmed Yasavi, the religious scolar, taught disciples from all over the Islamic world. The political capital of the once flourishing Kazakh Khanat it was also considered a second Mecca. Medieval Turkestan went through many an up and down, rises and falls in its history. When Turkestan was founded in 490 BC, the small town of Lutetia had not yet turned into Paris, and Londinium was a fishermen's settlement on the Thames. It would take another 658 years till the foundation of Moscow, and 1002 years until the discovery of the New World by Columbus.
Planning to visit Kazakhstan?
Flights The gateway into Kazakhstan is the recently modernized Almaty International airport - international flights
are carried out by Air Astana (Bangkok, Beijing, Dubai, London Heathrow á Moscow, Istanbul, Amsterdam, Seoul), Asiana Airlines (Seoul), British Airways (London Heathrow), Baku), Iran Air (Teheran), KLM (Amsterdam), Lufthansa (Frankfurt), Pakistan International Airlines (Karachi), Tadjikistan Air (Dushanbe), Transaero (Moscow), Turkish Airlines (Istanbul), Uzbek Airlines (Tashkent), UM Air (Kiev), China Southern Airlines (Urumchi).
The airport
The closes airport is in Shymkent from where it takes 2 hours to get to Turkistan by bus or taxi.
Transport
The railway station in Turkistan links the southern and western parts of Kazakhstan.
DEPART ALMATI 2
17:19
ARRIVE SHYMKENT
08:34, the next morning
DEPART SHYMKENT
17:50
ARRIVE ALMATI 2
08:39, the next morning
SHOPPING&EATING OUT
Near the mausoleum of Khodja Ahmed Yasavi, there are a number of shops selling souvenirs and handicraft articles by local artisans.
There are quite a number of eateries to chose from in town; chaikhanas, cafes, restaurants will offer you European cuisine as well as traditional dishes such as beshbarmak, Uzbek plov, Uighur laghman and more.
HOTELS
The accommodation sector is growing as there is more and more demand from the business community for conference venues and places to stay for foreign and domestic guests. Hotel make great efforts to provide the infrastructure that today's guests need, such as modern telecommunication, guest information, entertainment, recreation and spa area; most hotels are in the premium comfort category, namely 'Turkestan' ***, 'Yassy' ***, 'Eden' ***.
SIGHTS
The greatest era of Yassy, as the city was called then, was in the 12th century. Right on the Great Silk road, Yassy bustling, multi-colored and heavily populated; its bazaars were plentiful, the line of caravans interminable. The name Yassy was famous all over the Islamic world, often referred to as the second Mecca. Up to the XVIth century it was the administrative center of Central Asian rulers of ancient dynasties such as the Khorezm Shahs, the Jagataids, Timurids, Shaybanids. As of XVI century the city is known under the present name 'Turkistan'.
One aspect that made and makes Turkistan so special is its peculiar urban development. The city started to grow around the Mausoleum of Khodja Ahmed Yasavi, the prominent Sufi leader and scolar, which is the main point of interest for today's visitors. Constructions were added to its east and north-east in the shape of an irregular pentagon.
The mausoleum of Khodja Ahmed Yasavi is a huge construction with a direct-axial portal building. Its hight is 46.5m and width 65.5m. The external walls are 1.82m thick and the central part 3m. The portal is certainly the mausoleum's most impressive feature besides several domes. Around its central hall, the Kazanlyk, more than 35 rooms and cells serving various functions. The Kazanlyk is crowned by a brick dome, 18.2 meters in diameter, the biggest of all domes in Kazakhstan and all over Central Asia. For the turk people, the kazan (cauldron) was a symbol of unity and hospitality. Therefore, a special value was attached to its sizes and external decoration.
The Turkøstan kazan has no equal. Its diameter is 2.45 meters, it weighs two tons; and it is made of an alloy of seven metals.
For its magnitude, the mausoleum of Khodja Ahmed Yasavi can be compared to the mosque Bibi-Khanum in Samarkand Uzbekistan. Still nowadays Turkistan is a place of pilgrimage for followers of Islam from all over the world and a point of interest for tourists from the West and Japan, who come to see this unsurpassed masterpiece of medieval architecture, the mausoleum of Khodja Ahmed Yasavi.
