Sheikhantaur ensemble, Tashkent

Sheikh Khovendi at-Tahur, known as Sheikhantaur, was a Sufi sheikh and scholar who lived in Tashkent in the 14th century. He was revered as a holy man and a descendant of the second caliph, Umar. According to tradition, he was a contemporary of Timur, who honoured him. His grave became a pilgrimage site, and a cemetery and religious buildings grew up around it.

His mausoleum, rebuilt several times, consists of a domed chamber with the tomb, entered through a portal. Inside, old wooden columns and the remains of a sacred tree, said to have been planted by the sheikh, were long venerated by pilgrims. The area around his tomb was once a large cemetery and religious complex, of which these three mausoleums are the main survivors.

The Kaldirgochbiy mausoleum, from the 15th century, has an unusual pyramidal-conical dome, a form rare in Tashkent and reminiscent of the tombs of the Kazakh steppe and of Khorezm. It is traditionally associated with Tole Bi (1663–1756), a celebrated Kazakh judge and statesman, known as Kaldirgochbiy, “the swallow judge”, because swallows are said to have nested in his yurt. In the 18th century Tashkent was for a time under Kazakh rule, and Tole Bi governed the city. The building may be older than his time and was reused for his burial.

The Yunus Khan mausoleum was built in the late 15th century for Yunus Khan, ruler of Moghulistan, a Mongol khanate in the east of Central Asia, who died in Tashkent in 1487. His daughter married Umar Sheikh Mirza, a Timurid prince, and their son was Babur, who went on to found the Mughal empire in India. Babur wrote warmly about his grandfather in his memoirs, the Baburnama.

The mausoleum is a large building with a high portal and a central domed hall surrounded by rooms on two floors, in the Timurid style. Its tiled decoration has largely disappeared, but its massive brick structure and proportions reflect the architecture of the Timurid era. It is one of the few surviving 15th-century buildings in Tashkent.

The ensemble stands today in the grounds of an educational institution, among modern buildings and green spaces, close to busy Navoi Street. Most of the medieval cemetery and old town around it disappeared in the 20th century, especially after the 1966 earthquake. The contrast between the brick tombs and the modern city around them is striking, and the site is usually quiet.

Babur (1483–1530), the grandson of Yunus Khan, was born in Andijan in the Fergana Valley, a descendant of Timur on his father’s side and of Genghis Khan on his mother’s. After years of struggle for Samarkand and the Fergana Valley, he was driven south, took Kabul and in 1526 conquered northern India, founding the Mughal empire. His memoirs, the Baburnama, written in Chagatai Turkic, describe Tashkent, Samarkand and the Fergana Valley with affection and precise detail, and are one of the great autobiographies of world literature. The tomb of his grandfather is one of the few places in Tashkent connected with him.

Location: in central Tashkent, near Navoi Street, between Independence Square and the old town.

Metro: Paxtakor or Alisher Navoi stations, about 10 minutes’ walk. See the Tashkent metro.

Tickets: usually free; the grounds may have limited access, so you may need to ask at the entrance.

Time needed: 20–30 minutes.

Etiquette: dress modestly; the tombs remain places of prayer for some visitors.

Combine with: a walk west towards Chorsu bazaar and the Khast Imam complex, or east to Independence Square.