The Mussalla Gate, part of the Azret Sultan National Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve, is one of the architectural structures that served in the 19th century. It is located 150 meters in front of the mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi.
Within the framework of the Madeni Mura program, objects in the city of Eski Turkistan were identified that require special attention in terms of history, culture and archeology. Among them is Musalla kakpa, known as «Tort kakpaly Turkistan». In 2009-2010, archaeological excavations were carried out here, as a result of which historical and cultural monuments were discovered and work was carried out to restore them.
The name «Musalla» comes from the square in front of the mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, where Friday prayers are read. In Arabic, «Musalla» means «worship of Allah», prayer, and «mussalla al-eid» means «place of prayer on holidays.» Uzbek scholar B. D. Kochnev devoted his entire monograph «Medieval suburban cult studies of Central Asia» to these mosques of Mussalla and their types «Namazgah» and «Idgakhtar» (Tashkent, 1976). In the work, the author first emphasizes that the Arabic word «musalla» means «worship» (to pray), although it basically means «place of worship» (place of prayer) in a broader sense.
For many years, festive mosques have been celebrated under this name in all Islamic countries, but the word «mussalla» has other meanings. Under the name «mussalla» it was possible to name both a mosque and a prayer hall, including a place for prayer in the house, part of a mosque, mosques at a funeral, and even a stone over which a coffin is laid, and a jainamaz carpet facing hubilla. Although festive mosques are called by different names, the most commonly used definitions were «musalla al-eid» — a place to pray during the holiday and «musalla Al-idayn» — a place to pray during the double holiday. The holiday here is mainly after Great Lent, Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, as well as the Muslim holidays of Mawlid (Mawlid-n-Nabi), the night of the prophet’s birth. In addition to the common mussall, the names «namazgah» and «idgah» are often used in Central Asia, Iran, Afghanistan, and India, where these names are considered synonymous, meaning they have the same meaning.
The plan, which in 1865 captured this eastern corner of the city, depicts a giant tower with a diameter of 15 meters in this place, and you can see how the citadel weaves a thick fence between the southern tower and this tower (Fig.2). The reason that made the diameter of the turret so large was that the farthest defensive weapon of the time was a long firing cannon called a «cannon». But since the carriage was stationary, the cannon retreated several meters back when firing, and the diameter of the turret, in which several such guns stood side by side, also had to be wide. The height of the tower with a diameter of the lower base of 15m was supposed to be 11m, and the aboveground platform was 10m, the inner diameter of the tower was 9m. The tower had to be built facing OSH, the danger was born only from this side. The Kokand troops from Tashkent, Igan, Koskorgan or Shymkent could approach only from this page, and the «cannon» firing far away could protect the gates of the cities of Taqi, Zheti ata and Darbaza.
Excavations carried out in 2009 revealed the presence of a foundation consisting of a thick layer of silt located at a depth of 170-220 cm under the eastern gate tower. Kokand people of the XIX century. There is no trace of the gate that was built, although the Kurgan Castle and the foundations of residential buildings were cleared from a depth of 160-170 cm. The gate is 7.5 meters high, 5 meters wide, and 26 meters long. The height of the gate tower is 9.5 meters. Due to the fact that the gate has not been preserved, the specialists of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the RSE «Kazkaitazhanartu» made a special decision to erect a replica of the citadel gate instead of the Mussalla gate.
В.Kurban, Inspector for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Heritage monuments.
