Holy Cave Ak Mosque

Ak Mosque Holy Cave consists of limestone layer. It is a hollow cave 150 meters long, 65 meters wide and 25 meters high. According to legend, a family of saints once lived here, who built yurts and climbed up and down the stairs. It is a frequented place for people who want to get rid of diseases and for infertile couples who want to have children. The place is considered sacred.

Holy Cave is located in Baidibek district of Turkestan region. You can fly from Almaty to Shymkent by plane. You have to take a short walk to the cave from Glinovka, the nearest village to the cave, which is 80 kilometres away with one of the regular bus services from the city of Shymkent.

There are many legends about the cave. One of them is the legend about Esirkep Koigeldy who went on a raid to Kalmyk lands. While our hero was on his way to Kalmykia, it suddenly started to rain. He took refuge in this cave with more than ten thousand soldiers and prayed for the rain to stop. One of the warriors suggested giving this cave a name: "This is the foothills of Mount Karatau. It protected us and our horses from the rain. It made us prostrate and pray. The stones in the cave are white as cloth. This is probably a holy place, so let's call it the Ak mosque." Since then, the name Ak mosque has been passed down from generation to generation and used for the field.

The cave is quite large and spacious. Water drips from the holes in the rock from time to time. Trees that never see the sun grow in the cave. The entrance from the inside looks like the roof of a yurt. Old mulberries grow twenty meters deep in the underground hall of the cave. During the Dzungarian invasion, women and children were hiding in the cave. It is also unique that there is not a single tree aboveground in a radius of many kilometres. There is a real oasis in the cave. Its dimensions are 150 meters long and 65 meters wide. The white mosque is a holy place and place of pilgrimage. There is a guard living nearby who can take you to the cave.

Ak Mosque

 

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