This study examines the formation of Islamic sacred geography in medieval Kazakhstan (8th–19th centuries) through saint veneration, pilgrimage networks, architectural complexes, and landscape integration. The objective of the research is to identify the spatial and cultural mechanisms through which sacred architecture, devotional practices, natural landscape features, and systems of mobility became interconnected within the medieval Kazakh context. The study employs methods of sacred geography, landscape archaeology, material culture analysis, and comparative architectural interpretation, focusing on the Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, Aisha Bibi, Rabia Sultan Begim, the Akyrtas complex, pilgrimage routes, and associated settlement patterns. The results demonstrate that sacred sites functioned not as isolated religious monuments but as interconnected nodes of spiritual authority, cultural memory, pilgrimage, and commercial exchange. They further reveal that the strategic positioning of monuments in relation to trade routes, water sources, settlements, and topographic features produced spatial networks defined in this study as “geosacral corridors.” These corridors integrated devotional, social, and economic mobility and contributed to the formation of a distinctive regional sacred landscape. The findings also show that the architectural and decorative programs of major mausoleum complexes expressed a synthesis of Sufi devotional traditions, local practices of saint veneration with pre-Islamic roots, and broader Islamic cultural frameworks. The study concludes that medieval Kazakh sacred architecture should be understood as part of a wider territorial and experiential system rather than exclusively as a collection of individual monuments. It is recommended that future architectural and heritage research incorporate pilgrimage routes, landscape relationships, and regional mobility networks into the documentation, interpretation, and conservation of sacred sites in Kazakhstan

This study examines the formation of Islamic sacred geography in medieval Kazakhstan (8th–19th centuries) through saint veneration, pilgrimage networks, architectural complexes, and landscape integration. The objective of the research is to identify the spatial and cultural mechanisms through which sacred architecture, devotional practices, natural landscape features, and systems of mobility became interconnected within the medieval Kazakh context. The study employs methods of sacred geography, landscape archaeology, material culture analysis, and comparative architectural interpretation, focusing on the Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, Aisha Bibi, Rabia Sultan Begim, the Akyrtas complex, pilgrimage routes, and associated settlement patterns. The results demonstrate that sacred sites functioned not as isolated religious monuments but as interconnected nodes of spiritual authority, cultural memory, pilgrimage, and commercial exchange. They further reveal that the strategic positioning of monuments in relation to trade routes, water sources, settlements, and topographic features produced spatial networks defined in this study as “geosacral corridors.” These corridors integrated devotional, social, and economic mobility and contributed to the formation of a distinctive regional sacred landscape. The findings also show that the architectural and decorative programs of major mausoleum complexes expressed a synthesis of Sufi devotional traditions, local practices of saint veneration with pre-Islamic roots, and broader Islamic cultural frameworks. The study concludes that medieval Kazakh sacred architecture should be understood as part of a wider territorial and experiential system rather than exclusively as a collection of individual monuments. It is recommended that future architectural and heritage research incorporate pilgrimage routes, landscape relationships, and regional mobility networks into the documentation, interpretation, and conservation of sacred sites in Kazakhstan