Monument name: Oysylkar necropolis
Typological affiliation: sacred object
Dating of the monument: XVIII century – XX century
Location of the monument: Aktobe region, Khromtau district, 35 km north-north-east of the city of Khromtau
Historical information: the life time of Saint Oysylkar dates back to about the 7th-8th centuries. According to the stories of the aksakals, Saint Oysylkara preached the Sufi trend of Islam and missionary in seven countries of the Sahara. During the Prophet’s lifetime, he twice tried in vain to meet with him. Before his death, the Prophet left a date bone for him, asking his disciples to give it to Oysylkara in the Sahara. Before Oysylkar’s death, knowing that people from seven countries would fight for the right to bury him in their own country, he arrived on 7 camels with seven chests on this hill. The saint said: whoever wakes up before everyone else, he can bury me on his land. Each of the seven representatives of the countries, waking up, came to the hill, opened the chest, seeing the body of the saint in it, and took the camel with the chest to their country. There is also information that Oysylkara was a religious figure who lived in the 9th-11th centuries. Another patron saint of cattle, Shopan ata, was buried in the Mangystau region, in the Zhambyl region there is a mausoleum of Zenga baba. The patron saint of camel breeding Oysylkar is buried in our region. But it is not known which Oysylkar the area and the river were named after. There is no clear evidence for this phenomenon in science.
Description and characteristics of the monument: the Oysylkar necropolis is the largest memorial and cult complex of the Khromtau district of the Aktobe region. The name of the necropolis comes from the name of Oysylkar – the saint, the patron saint of camels. This complex, dating back to the XVIII-XX centuries, has a total area of 100×170 m, stretching from east to west. It is an ancient necropolis that includes about 150 tombs built in the traditional Kazakh style.