The title "Гумбез Манаса" translates to "Mausoleum of Manas" in English.

In the Talas Valley, at the foot of the rocky hill Manastyn Chokusu, stands the Tomb of Manas, known to every Kyrgyz. Such a rare structure made of burnt brick and carved terracotta could be a provincial counterpart to the famous tombs of ancient Sogdiana, built by masters from Samarkand and Bukhara. However, when researchers delved into the study of the very distinctive ornaments of the Tomb, they were surprised to find that in terms of style, they were close to the patterns of Kyrgyz shyrdaks and ala-kiizes.

The decorative facing of the Tomb is extraordinary. It features both the strictness of geometric ornamentation and the unrestrained imagination of plant patterns, creating a dynamic, rhythmically rich and emotionally charged picture. For connoisseurs of Kyrgyz ornamentation, it was easy to recognize in these patterns the soul and handwriting of the people.

The Tomb of Manas is a portal-dome brick mausoleum with an internal pointed dome and an external ribbed tent on a fluted drum, crowning an almost cubic volume. The portal with an entrance pointed niche and columns with various sets of figurative friezes is faced with carved terracotta tiles featuring intricate ornamentation and inscriptions. The ornaments of the Tomb are a rich example of the mutual penetration of decorative applied art patterns into architecture and vice versa.

Today, the majestic structure has been restored and presents itself to people in all its beauty.
There is a belief that Manas, the legendary hero of the Kyrgyz epic, is buried in this Tomb. The associated legend states that the mausoleum, unmatched in beauty and grandeur, was built by his beloved wife Kanikey. However, this is merely a beautiful folk fiction. In reality, as established by scholar M. E. Masson, the mausoleum was constructed in 1334 for the burial of the daughter of Emir Abuka.



In the summer of 1856, on the shores of Issyk-Kul, Chokan Valikhanov first recorded a prose excerpt from the epic "Manas," titled "The Death of Kukotai-Khan and His Funeral." It contains the following lines: “People! When I am no more (when my eyes close), wash me with kumyz, scrape me with a sharp sabre, dress me in armor, and, wrapping me in skin, place a white shroud under my head and turn my head to the east. Load a red cloth on a red saddle (of a one-humped camel), on a black saddle — black velvet, and with a caravan of 40 camels come to my grave (tomb)... And let the black Sart, the head of the caravan, make bricks from the fat of eighty goats. At the crossroads of the great and small roads, build a white shed (palace) like the moon, and put a blue dome like the blue sky on it. Hang similar road gutters, adorn them with curls and cornices.”

Ch. Valikhanov recorded the burial ritual of the hero and the demand to erect a tomb mausoleum for him from the words of the Kyrgyz manaschi. Here is the ancient burial rite that existed among the ancient Turkic peoples — the separation of flesh from bones when transporting the body of the deceased over long distances and wrapping it in skin, which was practiced until the 18th century. Here is also the orientation of the buried with their head to the east — the oldest custom of the nomads of the Tian Shan, and the mention of the log tomb — still preserved, for example, in Sary-Jaz, and the necessity of constructing the mausoleum-tomb from solid brick, made particularly strong with animal fat, and here is the need for architectural decoration of the portal part of the tomb, executed in the traditional style of ornamental motifs in the form of curls.

The epic mentions that the tomb was painted. Genre paintings on Kyrgyz tombs were not isolated or exceptional cases. They simply did not survive, but judging by the epic, they had deep roots and traditions.

Researcher K. Aydarkulov conducted a special study to identify mentions of architectural construction — the erection of tombs and the visual arts of decorative painting of tombs in the Kyrgyz heroic epic "Manas."



It turned out that in the second part of the trilogy of the epic "Semetey," in its earliest pre-revolutionary recording, there are scenes of Kanikey — the wife of Manas — erecting a tomb in memory of her famous husband-hero, and of genre scenes of the painting of this tomb.

As stated in the epic “Semetey,” Kanikey (the wife of Manas) builds a monumental tomb on the banks of the Talas River — a prototype of the khan's yurt. In architectural design, it is a dome-shaped yurt with a majestic portal, adorned with rich ornamental decor “kyial” — a symbol of the invincibility and unlimited power of the buried.

The interior of the tomb consisted of genre scenes of epic heroes. The central figure was Manas himself, along with animal protectors: a tiger, a lion, a leopard, and an eagle. Manas was depicted in armor and fully armed, on a war horse, also in an armored blanket. His heroic companions: kyrk-choro were depicted in battle and combat with enemies. Here too were numerous everyday scenes reflecting the semi-nomadic lifestyle of the Kyrgyz people.

No tomb corresponding to such a description has survived in Talas. The so-called Tomb of Manas — the burial place of the feudal lady of the 14th century Kanizek-khatun — had no paintings. One can only assume that there was another tomb in Talas with genre illustrative scenes and a different architectural solution. But time is relentless. And today we can only be satisfied with the epic itself and the descriptions of similar tombs left by travelers of the mid-last century, who still occasionally encountered such tombs.

There is no one in the Talas Valley who has not heard of this tomb. And how can one not hear, how can one not strive to see it, if there is no other like it in all the surrounding mountains and valleys? And since in Talas, and especially in Ken-Kol, every stone, every peak is connected with the folk imagination, with the name of Manas, the mausoleum is primarily known as the Tomb of Manas — the beloved hero of the people from the Kyrgyz national epic "Manas."

Even A. N. Bernshtam in December 1940, summarizing the results of his three-year trips to the archaeological monuments of Kyrgyzstan in Leningrad, wrote: “It is quite clear that the numerous monuments associated with the name of Manas have no relation to him, but the closeness of the Kyrgyz people to the monuments of the antiquity of their country, in which they vividly feel their rich history of events, becomes all the more understandable.”



The mausoleum Kanizek-khatun, known as the literary-ethnographic museum "Tomb of Manas," is located in the Ken-Kol gorge, where it opens onto the wide expanses of the Talas Valley. The monument was thoroughly examined in 1945 by M. E. Masson and G. E. Pugachenkova, and the inscriptions on its external facade were read by A. M. Belenitsky and M. E. Masson. Excavations inside the mausoleum were conducted by B. M. Zima.

The construction of the burial place over the grave of a woman from the ruling lineage of the Chagatai in Talas is associated by scholars with the adoption of Islam by the Mongol nobility. Muslim traditions were increasingly penetrating among the pagan nomads. Externally, this manifested itself in the construction of mausoleums over the graves of Mongol khans. The inscription on the portal of the monument indicates the death of the daughter of Emir Abuka — Kanizek-khatun — on the first day of Ramadan in the year 734 of the Hijra (May 6, 1334). Soon after her death, a mausoleum was erected over her grave, and later other individuals were also buried here. The tomb has now been restored. Its main attraction is the artistically designed portal, highlighted in the southern wall. In accordance with the traditions of the preceding era of the 11th-12th centuries, the architect focused on the portal, faced with architectural terracotta slabs, but using local, typically Kyrgyz ornamental motifs. The dome system appears archaic for the Central Asian architecture of the 14th-15th centuries. The building is executed in small proportions, atypical for the era. Therefore, it is not surprising that before reading the inscriptions on the portal, the mausoleum was perceived as a structure of pre-Mongol times. At the same time, it seems to reflect the process of renewal and development of the architecture of Turkestan in the 13th-14th centuries.

The diversity of the ornaments of the tomb finds broad parallels in the folk art of the Kyrgyz. The origins of some motifs in the embroidery on shyrdaks and tushkiizs lie in the architectural patterns of monumental buildings, and conversely, the architect used folk and traditional ornaments of applied art, the roots of which go back to ancient times, to decorate the building.



Visitors love to come here in the evening, when the heat subsides, the daylight dims, the intricate patterns of carved terracotta fill with darkness, and nothing hinders the reading of the sacred that was embedded in the fire-hardened clay by unknown masters. Researchers have concluded that the decor of the tomb is much closer to the patterns of Kyrgyz shyrdaks and tushkiizs than to the ornamentation of the famous Central Asian mausoleums, of which it may seem a commonplace imitation at first glance.

The scholars also read the inscription on the portal. However, this was not so easy, as it is presented in a mirror image. “This magnificent tomb of the virtuous, chaste, fourth pillar of the era, the most glorious of women, Kanizek-khatun, daughter of the emir, the excellent, revered, respected source of generosity and mercy, victor by pen and sword, Emir Abuka...”

As if time itself has turned this inscription upside down. Abuka and his fourth pillar of the era have faded into eternity, while from the depths of folk memory, the name of Manas — the people's defender — has emerged.

Video "Tomb of Manas - an architectural monument of the Middle Ages"