Archaeological excavations testify that Kyluet mosques “were built on the basis of Gar rooms”. That is, at first the Murshis (preceptors) of the Sufi way descended into the underground Ghars for the purpose of spreading and developing their teachings and perfecting their spirits. Later adherents of this doctrine, the talipas built temples over the Ghars. In Arabic, the word “غَار -Gar” means cave. In Sufi terminology, the meaning of this word is shore, melting, searching for an individual path. The Prophet Muhammad (s.a.) is also credited with the very first Wahih from Allah, the five ayats of the Holy Qur’an, which came while he was in a mountain cave. The process of digging underground into the Gar rooms and worshipping Allah probably originated after the preceding incident.

The fact that the underground mosques kyluet were built on the basis of rooms “Gar” also testifies to the findings of archaeologists T.Senigova, E.Smagulov, M.Tuyakbayev, who at different times conducted archaeological excavations at the monument. As a result of archaeological research it was found that the oldest part of the complex, consisting of 18 rooms in a copy of A. Schmid, is a room “Gar”, built in the XII century, and a mosque built round above it, and the other part of the complex was built in the XV-XVII centuries, and the rest – in the XVIII-XIX centuries. As we have seen, the underground mosques of kyluet were built on the basis of “Gar” caves – temples, and over time additional constructions of various purposes were added.

Tolkyn Zholdasov, custodian of the fund.