Sagana, built for Makat Sarzhanuli, is an architectural monument of Central Kazakhstan, built in the early ХІХ and late ХХ centuries. Sagana is located 10 km north-west of Shenber aul of Ulytau district of Karaganda region, on the banks of the river Karatorgai.Makat Sarzhanuli is said to have been a rich and well-educated man who lived in the Turgai region bordering Ulytau. He made special cameras under the mausoleum, thinking that he and his descendants would live together.The descendants of the ancestor are buried in the open tomb inside Sagan.
It is estimated that there are about twenty bodies. The last body was buried here in 1994. Interestingly, the funeral tradition here is different. When a person died, his body was wrapped in a white cloth and taken to a specially dug place in the basement of the tomb. Men and women have separate rooms. And in the middle, there is a curtain. If the deceased entrusts his body to be buried here, the body will be unloaded at a special excavation site. Surprisingly, the corpse here does not smell for forty days in July. The door is covered with felt, so it may not be hot in summer. The inner walls of the cold brown place are made of brick. In winter and summer the temperature inside is stable.Sagana is a single-chamber dome-portal, built of burnt brick. The main facade is decorated with bricks of different shapes. The conical dome is mounted on a round base. The main facade is decorated with a “P” -shaped strip, with an arched entrance in the middle. The three walls are decorated with a “S” -shaped pattern, resembling a carpet. Stairs are installed on the inner wall of the main facade. Through the corridor you can descend the stairs to the grave to a depth of 1 m.
References: 1. Regional sacred sites of Kazakhstan. –Astana: Foliant, 2017. –275 p; 2. The sacred Kazakhstan. Volume 3 –Astana, 2019. –167-p.
