Sayram

Sayram is a rural locality located in southeastern Turkistan Region on the Sayram Su River, which rises at the nearby 4000-meter mountain Sayram Su. In medieval times, the city and countryside were located on the banks of the Arys River, into which the Sayram Su river flows. It is now a suburb of Shymkent. Population: 30,887; 25,408.The city celebrated the 3,000th anniversary of its founding in 1999. It is among the oldest cities in Kazakhstan, as well as one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the World, site of the first mosque in Kazakhstan, and similarly among the oldest cities in Transoxania. Sayram is significant today for maintaining mud-brick architecture and the absence of Soviet-style architecture. There are many pre-20th-century mausoleums, and more continue to be built.