KUMSHIK ATA MOSQUE

ASTANA. November 8. KAZINFORM Within the framework of the Cultural Heritage program the Kazinform Information Agency publishes materials about historical monuments of Kazakhstan.

Kumshik-ata mosque is an underground archeological monument which was built in X-XII centuries. It is located in the city of Turkestan of South Kazakhstan oblast.

It serves for carrying out religious observances of the Sufis.

Kumshik-ata mosque is a cave of two rooms. The platform is made of raw brick. The mosque is named after holy man (aulie) Kumshik ata. The studies confirm that Kumshik-ata mosque became a place of holding religious sermons.

In 1973-1974 Kumshik-ata mosque was studies by an expedition of the Archeology and Etnography Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic and the Ministry of Culture of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic headed by T.Sneginov.

In 2003 Kumshik-ata mosque was restored and taken under the state's shelter.