The bridge was located outside of the Zheti Ata gate. Coordinates: 43.2965984, 068.2617400. The gate “Zheti Ata” called “Zheti Ata Mausoleum” means seven ancestors, due a single tomb located outside the city wall where buried seven murids of Ahmed Yasawi according to their own wish. According to a local resident of the city Nausharbay Aksakal, during that period this area was covered with big mulberry gardens and a large cemetery. Beyond the gate was located the bridge “Babyrat Ata”, which crossed the moat and along the road leading from the bridge to the railway station, used to pass Kokand trade carts. The cemetery and the fortress wall existed until 1928–1932.
Inside the southern tower of the gate located the Mausoleum and Mosque of “Baba-Garip” and the mausoleum of “Undemes Ata” discovered during excavations works nearby. The second name of Baba-Garip is “Baba-Arab”. However, his descendant, who possesses the genealogical record (“Nasabnama”) Otegen Zholdybayev claims that his true name was “Sabyr Malik”. Inside the northern tower of the gate were large shops and storage buildings, and direct in front of the gate was located covered parade ground “Maidan”.
The name “Babyrat Ata” is a shortened form of “Baba Arab Ata”. During archaeological excavations conducted in 2008–2011 at the site of the gate and the bridge, were uncovered the abutments and traces of the central pier of a 15th–17th-century bridge. Moreover was revealed the foundation of the northern abutment of the 19th-century bridge (see drawing). A photograph of the bridge taken in 1910 has been preserved, and in 2019 was reconstructed a reduced-scale replica of the bridge.
Литература:
- Тұяқбаев М.Қ., Өсеров Т., Күмісбаева Ұ., Мұсабаев Қ., Муташев Е. Ескі Түркістан қаласының Жеті ата қақпасының тарихи орынында 2009 жіне 2011жж. жүргізілген археологиялық қазба жұмыстарының есебі. Археология бөлімі архиві.
- Бабырат ата көпірі // «Әзірет Сұлтан» энциклопедиясы. Түркістан, 2021.85б.
