In the necropolis that spreads around the main mausoleum, the tomb of Kasym Khan is the most significant. Kasym Khan (died 1523) presided over one of the greatest expansions of the Kazakh Khanate, pushing its borders westward and reportedly increasing the population under his rule to a million people — a remarkable figure for the steppe. He was famous enough that a European traveller reported that his name was known even in Istanbul.
The mausoleum is simpler than the great Yasawi shrine, but the tilework is good and the setting — in the middle of a plain that stretches flat to the horizon in every direction — makes the act of pilgrimage feel appropriately austere. The broader necropolis contains many other tombs of Kazakh nobles and their families, most unidentified, spread across the steppe around the UNESCO complex.