Ayakkamyr mausoleum is one of the most important monuments of Central Kazakhstan in the late IX-XII centuries. It is located 9 km north-west of Zhezdy village of Ulytau district of Karaganda region. The architectural structure and decoration are typical of the buildings of the Oguz-Kipchak epoch. To the west, 300 m away, there is the town of Ayakkamyr.
The mausoleum is a portal-centered complex. Its front side is framed like the letter P and decorated in the form of a monument. The entrance cavity is covered with a straight arch. It was built of burnt bricks and covered with half-carved boards. The rectangular construction plan consists of three dimensions: the cube of the building, the portal and the dome.Academician A.H. Margulan speculates that the tomb of Ayakkamyr was built for Kutlyk Temir, a descendant of Genghis Khan. The mausoleum of Ayakkamyr is mentioned in the researches of Sh. Valikhanov and G. Gerasimov. There are not many legends about the mausoleum among the locals. The researcher G. Gerasimov says in his work: “... There are no legends among the locals about how and when this mausoleum appeared. The ruins of the mausoleum show that it is the oldest mausoleum in the region. This mausoleum is also known as Temirkutlyk mausoleum. However, a similar name is given to the second, less attractive mausoleum, located 15-16 km from the dome. “It is difficult to say exactly which of them has the right name 'Temirkutlyk', since we do not have historical data on this issue”, he said.The mausoleum was first studied in 1946 by the Central Kazakhstan Archaeological Expedition of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR (A.H. Margulan).
References: 1. Regional sacred sites of Kazakhstan. –Astana: Foliant, 2017. –258 p; 2. The sacred Kazakhstan. Volume 3 –Astana, 2019. –115-p.
