Shaken Ishan Mosque

Object name and date: Shaken Ishan Mosque, 19th century.

Location: Aktobe region, Alginsky district, pos. Sarytogay.

Description: The Shaken Ishana Mosque was built at the beginning of the 20th century. on the right bank of the river. Karakhobda, at the northern outskirts of the village. Sarytogay, not far from the Samara-Shymkent highway. The mosque attracts attention with its unusual architecture. It is a one-storey building divided into three compartments, built of stone blocks combined with burnt bricks. The monument belongs to the type of late minaret mosques of longitudinal-axial construction widespread in the territory of the Aktobe region.

The mosque is rectangular in plan, measuring 10.0 x 24.0 m, elongated along the west-east axis. The walls of the building are 1.0 m thick and 3.5 m high, lined with boulders – sandstone-limestone of local rock. The overlap is beam-log, which was destroyed before the 1990s. Above the eastern facade rises a round-shaped minaret tower, the height of which is 9 m. On the opposite facade there is the apse of the mihrab. There are 10 window openings on the southern and northern walls, while the minaret tower has two window openings on both sides. Entrance doorways are located under the minaret tower, on the southern and northern walls.