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   Kayalyk. Buddist temple.

«Buddhist temple» became the second object of excavation on settlement Antonovskoe. Before the beginning of excavation it was made in height up to two meters, with the square basis, focused by corners on the sides of world. The temple consists from central - altar rooms of the square form; a quadrilateral roundabout corridor and angular towers. In a temple there is an external doorway (entry) in a corridor and an internal doorway (entry) in the central room. Construction is executed from adobe bricks along with which in same places burnt bricks is used.

During excavations the complex of ceramics (fragments of jugs, fragments of glazed bowls, typical for XII – XIII cc) were collected. The fragment of a vessel - water-carrier with spout which was made as a head of the bull is exciting interest. The brick with incised sign as divergent rays is really interesting. Iron-wares represents by a series of dowels and nails of the various sizes, tools for door locking and a dagger.

The temple of Kayalyk is dated the end of XI - first half of the XIII cc.

Analogies of construction are traced in planing schemes of Buddhist temples of Semirechie and also in cult architecture of capital of Tanguts – Hara-Hoto.

As is known the Buddhism in XI - XIII cc. was extending in  Zhetysu from the Uigur state, from Tibet and Tangut empire.

Notes of the traveller and the diplomat of the middle of XIII c. Rubruk, was living in Kayalyk in November of 1253, during his trip to Mongolia as the ambassador of the French king Lui IX, allow to understand the device  of the Kayalyk temple, and also to learn some Buddhist rituals of this time. Rubruk wrote that joss-houses looked as follows:

Really 1 and 15 numbers of each lunar month Buddhist clerics perform services during the whole day, burn aromas, sacrifice cookies, fruits and water, kindle icon-lamps.

The above mentioned description of a temple undoubtedly evidences about its Buddhist character. The sacrificial tables  is specially exactly described. The description of a holiday made by Rubruk confirms this opinion.

Thus one more Center of the Buddhism in the central Asia in XII - XIII cc is found out.

Eventually natural and man-caused factors have played the role in destruction of the adobe construction of this monument. In a result the building  appeared on the verge of demolition. The decision about partial preservation of the Buddhist temple was accepted. As a result of carrying out of several tests the material which the most similar to an original material of ancient construction has been chosen. From horse manure, the cut straw and a лёса has been prepared batch  and are made adobe bricks. These bricks had been laid out the top borders of walls of  the temple that has allowed to stop prompt destruction of a Buddhist temple forsome time.