Turkistan - City

Turkistan (formerly Yasi) is an ancient city in southern Kazakhstan on the Silk Road, near the Syr Darya river. Its most prominent monument is the Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, a UNESCO World Heritage Site built by Timur (Tamerlane) between 1389 and 1405 to honor the 12th-century Sufi master. The partly unfinished structure stands 38.7 metres tall and features the largest extant brick dome in Central Asia at 18.2 metres diameter, with over 35 interior rooms. Persian master builders experimented with architectural solutions later used in Samarkand. The city served as capital of the Kazakh Khanate in the 15th-16th centuries and was a major crossroads on the Great Silk Route.