YEKEGOWAK 220 km south of Mary
YEKEGOWAK 220 km south of Mary

The cave сomplex of Yekegowak is located near Tagtabazar in Southern Turkmenistan. The caves stretch along the steep right bank of Murgab and over the Karabil height. The entrance is organized in the vertical break of the bank. A straight, 37 m long corridor comes up against the altar-shaped niche. On the right and the left there are rectangular rooms and one of them, almost quadrate in plan (3,2 x 3,3 m), has a spherical ceiling and a dome with the narrow ornamented drum. The height of this room in the centre is 5,6 m. At the north-western and north-eastern corners there are massive base columns (up to 2 m high) on the bases in the shape of a ball laying on a slab, with stylized capitals and shelves for candles. Immediately at the entrance to the cave there is a spiral stairway that led to the 3 lower storeys. Some stairways to the upper tiers of the cave were established in the rooms of the ground floor.