Astanababa ( Russian: Астана-Баба) is a town in the Kerki District of the Lebap Province of Turkmenistan. [1] It is about 12 km northwest of Kerki. [1]
Astana, in Farsi, means mausoleum. [1]
The site was first studied by Russian orientalist Boris Litvinov in the fall of 1899. [2] It was further studied by Galina Pugachenkova and Mikhail Masson. [3] [2]
Some historians believe the structure to have been commissioned by Mahmud of Ghazni in memory of his ally (and Samanid ruler) Isma'il Muntasir; others attribute Muntasir himself. [1] [3] [4] [a] A square structure, three of its walls have blind niches; the brickwork is intensely decorative — Paul Brummell noted it to be among the finest examples of 11th c. Turkmen architecture. [1] That the mausoleum did not become a shrine indicates that no saint was buried; it might have been a person from the secular spheres or none at all. [1] [3] In Turkmen tradition, an eponymous commander of Ali was buried at the site. [3] [b]
The complex — primarily, a set of four domed rooms — has been progressively expanded over the centuries. [1] The entrance portal leads into a hall, before two successive pairs of domed rooms: the first pair is believed to be the oldest constructions, and contain a tomb and mosque. [1] Beyond, comes the second pair constructed c. 19th century, containing two tombs each and known as the Kizlyar-Bibi Mausoleum. [1] Identities of all the buried people remain unknown; local tradition asserts Ibn Ali Nur, a local ruler of Balkh, to have constructed the mausoleum for his daughter.. [1]
37°54′05″N 65°07′31″E / 37.90139°N 65.12528°E