Scientists study Sauran swinging minarets in Turkistan region

In the Turkistan region, scientists are studying one of the wonders of the world - the swinging minarets of the medieval Sauran madrasah, which made the ancient city well known in the East. Only the structures’ foundation of 40 brick layers down to a six meters depth has been preserved, which cannot be observed in any other architectural construction. Scientists claim that the minarets were built in the 16th century at the entrance to the madrasah but were ruined over time. There are data that these towers were erected by local architects using burnt bricks, which is also mentioned in the works of medieval scholars, for example, the Tajik poet Zainiddin Mahmud Vasifi. However, the ancient technology of building minarets has not yet been revealed.

“There was a chain attached between two minarets. If logs arranged under the dome of each minaret were set in motion, the chain would sway, rocking the towers themselves. This created a pendulum effect,” said Marat Tuyakbayev, an archaeologist, PhD Candidate in History.