Name of the monument: Mosque Duysenbi ahun
Typological affiliation: sacred object
Dating of the monument: XX ғ.
Location of the monument: Irgiz district, 6.4 km north-west of the village of Zhaisanbay.
Historical information: For the first time, the mosque was explored in 1983 by an architectural and art expedition for the protection of historical and cultural monuments of the Kazakh SSR (headed by S. Azhigali). Also, information about the Duysenbi Akhun mosque is in the book of Professor S. Azhigali “Eskertkish-el tarikhy” and the monograph “The architecture of nomads, the phenomenon of history and culture of Eurasia.”
The Duysenbi Akhuna Mosque is a bright and traditional monument of the Northern Aral Sea region. The mosque is rectangular in plan, stretched from northeast to southwest.
Duisenbi akhun was an educated person, knew both Arabic and Russian, was a mullah (molda) and a saint. Duisenbi Imashuly studied in a special religious madrasah in 1885-1886 and returned to his homeland only in 1904. In 1908-1909, residents of the aul helped Duisenbi in the construction of a mosque. In 1913 the construction was completed. The elders considered Duisenbi to be clairvoyant. For example, he knew and felt in advance who and with what disease went to him for treatment. It was believed that he captured two spirits and tied them to the doors of the mosque. It is said that at night he often left the mosque in a white robe and walked around him. One day he said to his watchman: “I will sleep a little, but do not sleep, if you fall asleep, then I will be in danger.” However, at dawn, the watchman fell asleep, and the two spirits, turning into swans, flew away from the threshold of the mosque.
Description and characteristics of the monument: The mosque has a rectangular plan (9.60 x 24.20), elongated along the NE-SW axis (deviation from N-40). The walls of the building are made of baked bricks, the ceiling was beam-log, later with a slate roof, now it is completely destroyed. An 8-sided minaret tower (total height 19 m.) with a hip dome covered with sheet iron. The apse of the mihrab protrudes on the opposite facade. The planes of the walls are dissected by niches, windows, blades, there are two doorways: in the southeastern and northeastern walls. The design of the overlapping of openings and windows is specific – bow and wedge “arches” of low rise, in which the influence of the architecture of more northern regions – the Volga region, etc. is felt. The interior of the building was originally divided into two rooms: one of them on the side of the minaret, where there was a wooden staircase, and the second – a large office room, in which there was a wooden minbar at the mihrab. The monument from the south and northeast is surrounded by the ruins of residential and household visits, among which are visible buildings where bricks were fired.