Shakh Fazil Explained

Shakh Fazil
Map Type:Kyrgyzstan
Coordinates:41.4289°N 71.6592°W
Location:Safedbulan, Jalal-Abad Region
Region:Kyrgyzstan
Type:Archaeological Complex
Built:1050-60
Other Designation:UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List

The Shakh Fazil Archaeological Complex is located in the village Safedbulan, Jalal-Abad Region of Kyrgyzstan. It is a sacred Muslim site, and an annual mass pilgrimage occurs here. The name of the main building in many scholarly sources is the Tomb of Shah Fadl, and this is a major Qarakhanid tomb probably built between 1050–1060.

Site description

The collection of sites is made up of the Shakh Fazil Mausoleum, Safed-Bulan Mausoleum, the holy mountain of Archa Mazar, Alamberdar Mausoleum, holy hermit's cave, an 18th/19th-century Mosque, and vertical stone phallos. The mausoleum of Shakh Fazil, the most important site in the collection, is unique in its own right and stands apart from other Karakhanid-era mausolea.

World Heritage status

This site was added as an individual entry to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Kyrgyzstan on January 29, 2001 in the Cultural category.[1] The individual enty was removed from the list in 2010, and Shakh Fazil was instead included in the serial entry "Silk Roads Sites in Kyrgyzstan".[2]

Notes

  1. https://web.archive.org/web/20070224193846/https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/1513/ Shakh-Fazil
  2. https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5518/ Silk Roads Sites in Kyrgyzstan

References