Events for the Protection and Study of Burana in the Early Years of Soviet Power

Resolution of the Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the Turkestan Republic

The resolution of 1917 found the Burana settlement in a deplorable state. In the beginning, the temptation to use bricks from the minaret noticeably increased among the population of Tokmak, and by 1919, due to the complete impunity of such actions, it took on a threatening character. This was partially halted by the spontaneously awakened interest of the broad public in everything around them, spurred by the revolution. Small notes and appeals began to appear in the local press, sounding the alarm about the fate of the Burana minaret, from which the surviving rows of masonry in the upper parts began to be actively dismantled. The cry "Save the Burana tower!" resonated among the Tokmak teachers, who decided to take on the responsibility for the monument's preservation and established oversight of the settlement. At that time, several random finds were registered at the Burana site.

Thus, in 1921, spring waters washed out several badly preserved copper coins of the 12th century minted by the Ilek dynasty. At that time, T. Mirgiyazov noted a large copper cauldron on three legs, found back in 1915 but not registered in literature at that time, the ends of which were designed in the form of a lizard-like dragon's mouth. The cauldron ended up with a local coppersmith in 1922, who used it to make several kumgans. This period also saw popular notes about the settlements of the Chui Valley, including Burana and its tower, published in various periodicals in Tashkent and Kazan in Uzbek and Tatar languages. Their author, T. Mirgiyazov, was then a teacher in Tokmak.

However, despite the initiative of some Tokmak residents to protect Burana, cases of using its burnt bricks for private construction continued to occur until the end of 1922, about which Turkomstaris was informed at that time. In the resolution adopted by the Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the Turkestan Republic on March 27, 1923, No. 52, the Burana tower was included among the most valuable historical and archaeological monuments and transferred for protection to the jurisdiction of the All-Turkestan Committee.

As early as 1924, at the request of Turkomstaris (soon renamed to Sredazkomstaris), V. D. Gorodetsky re-examined the Burana tower, noting in his field report that around the settlement there were traces of a suburban surrounding wall in the form of separate segments of melted ramparts. At the same time, he visited the Ak-Peshin settlement. In the following year, 1925, he, together with Arabist Professor A. E. Schmidt, conducted a special expedition to clarify the historical topography of the delta of the Chu River and the western shore of Issyk-Kul, particularly the routes noted in medieval Arab sources. During the visit to the Burana settlement, some lifting material in the form of fragments of utensils was collected. The total area of the former city, surrounded by a wall, of which traces remained in the form of melted ramparts, was estimated by V. D. Gorodetsky to be about 20 square kilometers. In his opinion, Burana should be identified with the city of Pevaks, mentioned by medieval Arab geographers, and the ruins of Ak-Peshin with the remnants of Pendzhikent.

In the same year, 1925, at the request of Sredazkomstaris, a special inspection of the Burana tower was carried out by art historian B. P. Denike and architect M. M. Loginov to determine its condition and necessary measures for ensuring its preservation.

The study was accompanied by quite detailed photographic documentation of the exterior of this monument. B. P. Denike pointed out the close connection of the architectural forms and ornamentation of the Burana tower with the minaret of Uzgen, the 12th-century minaret in Bukhara, the minaret in Termez (423 AH—1031 AD), and the towers of the 11th-12th centuries in Khorasan, proposing to date the Semirechye monument to the 11th-12th centuries. Later, B. P. Denike more definitively attributed the Burana tower to the monuments of the 12th century and compared its ornamentation with the decor of the mausoleum of Yusuf ibn Kutaiba in Nakhichevan (1162 AD).