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The extent of the multitude of
the medieval mosques and minarets allows us to consider these monuments of the nomads
and half-nomads of Kazakhstan as an original and generally unique part of the
history of Kazakhstan’s vernacular architecture.
A rough listing made of Kazakhstan’s
medieval Islamic architecture sites shows that their number significantly
exceeds the number of surviving above-ground Islamic culture buildings.
Unfortunately, the majority of
Kazakhstan’s mosques and minarets have not survived to this day. However, architectural
traces left thereof, along with the remaining written monuments, whereby medieval
Arab travelers, historians, and chronographers enable us to fill some gaps in
the historical study of structures, – do make us hopeful.
In order to provide for a timely
fixation and scientific documentation of the surviving archaeological medieval
sites – mosques and minarets of Kazakhstan, in the autumn of 2021, experts of
the International Institute for Central Asian Studies (IICAS), together with the
dedicated UNESCO international experts team, commenced their work to identify,
examine and study these monuments, by the assignment from the National
Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan for UNESCO and ICESCO.
The work was carried out with efficient
application of innovative technologies, so that the documentation of the sites was
done using unmanned aerial vehicles and high-precision GPS-enabled systems,
specialized software for graphic editing, 3D modeling, photogrammetry and GIS-cartography.
29 medieval mosques and
minarets were selected from among the 36 potential sites, and for each of them the
following data were collected:
• 700 to 3000 aerial
photographs;
• 400 to 2000 ground photographs;
• up to 7 video files;
• geo-landmarks to refine the
georeferencing of topographic and orthomosaic data taken from a TRIMBLE GNSS
receiver;
• geographic coordinates of the
markers to enhance the georeferencing of the specific architectural structures,
taken from a Leica laser theodolite.
The results of the work are a
digital elevation model, an orthophotomap and a 3D model, prepared for each
monument.
The recommendations elaborated
by IICAS in cooperation with international experts on the basis of the research
conducted thus far will make it possible to prepare properly substantiated
proposals for the preservation and use of the monuments. This work adds up to
the future capacity of the dedicated task force to design and deploy a strategy
for the possible inscription of these monuments on the UNESCO World Heritage
List.
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