Sultan Epe Underground Mosque in Ashchimuryn, Kazakhstan

Mangystau region is situated on the east side of Kazakhstan facing on the Caspian Sea. It is an desolate and forgotten land where the landscape speaks of an ancient ocean, wherein the steppe is interrupted by sudden earth depressions in which one can find dreamiest rock erosions and salt lakes.

In this exceptional and inhospitable landscape humans found ways to settle down. Once Mangystau was on the silk route and its sacred places where both pilgrimage destinations and resting places for commercial caravans. Nevertheless the consistent migrations and wars that took place interrupting the trade roads, nowadays the region is a place of mass pilgrimage and it is considered the land of 362 saints.

The most venerated of them spread Sufism to these lands, which still has strong roots in it. In Kazakhstan, the workship of shrines mystical Islam of Sufism merges with the secular Teengrist and Shamanistic nomadic traditions such as the veneration of ancestors.

According to legends, Sultan Epe is considered the saint protector of seamen, patron of fishermen and saviour of drowning people. For this reason the cult of this saint refers to sea and fresh water as important symbols: on one hand water, maternal element, that saves from desert, on the other hand the threatening and destructive force of the sea.

The underground mosque of Sultan Epe of Mangystau is found in this harsh yet fascinating context. The Mosque is situated not far away from the Caspian coast and lies in proximity of a deep canyon that interrupts the flat steppe. Approaching the sacred site, the visitor passes by a couple of low limestone rock constructions from which protrude circulars skylights that brings light inside the underground space.

The path goes down and finally reaches the entrance: a simple door leading down to inner sacred space. The mosque's continuous and narrow space is shaped by pillars bearing different heights of the rock ceiling. Is natural light, coming through the skylights and reverberating on the limestone internal surfaces, that mainly defines and characterised the uniqueness of the mosque atmosphere.

The praying spaces are so defined by natural light, this creating contrast with the overall darkness and enhancing the sense of sacredness. Sultan Epe reminds us the essential elements that have shaped architecture since ages: light, material and space. Furthermore the mosque is a clear example of how the uniqueness of a construction is closely linked to its natural context and to the traditions established over the years, in other words the Genius Loci.