First, a little official history:
In principle, nothing out of the ordinary. In those days, they could easily have built a mausoleum on the grave of their favorite poet, but the size of the building raises questions. It is believed that Tamerlane took a personal part in drafting the project.
Entrance to the mausoleum.
There is also information that during the construction of this mausoleum, innovative solutions were applied, which were then used in the construction of buildings in Samarkand. There is no information about who exactly built (did not pay for the construction). Just a listing of who ordered the building and who finished it.
When I was in a Soviet school, it was easy to take a ticket for the whole class and go on an excursion across the country. Fortunately, the parents' trade unions paid for everything.
And we went on a tourist trip to Kazakhstan, where one of the attractions was the mausoleum of Ahmed Yassavi. Of course, we were shocked by the grandeur of the building.
View of the mausoleum from the back.
I have nothing against this poet, but it seems to me that such a construction requires huge investments. At the same time, I remember that there was a bathhouse inside. Why she is in the mausoleum is not clear, because it is something like a monument. We do not have a bath or a sauna in the Lenin mausoleum on Red Square. People go to see Lenin, not to wash.
Promotional video:
The presence of a bath indicates that this building has (or existed) a sewerage and water supply system.
And this despite the fact that nothing else was built around this complex. I only remember some shacks nearby.
Now this is closer to the truth. Hardly anyone began to live in a mausoleum built on a human grave. Most likely, this complex was originally built as a house for living, hence all the amenities in it and so many rooms. Although, for the mausoleum, two would be enough, the entrance room and the memorial.
I think that this building, initially, when it was built, had a different purpose. Here's a look at pictures of similar buildings in Iran. And these are not mausoleums.
Vank Cathedral in Iran.
Mosque Nasir Al-Mulk Shiraz Iran.
Iran.
Information about the people, which had architects, builders of various specialties, and most importantly, the technologies that made it possible to build such masterpieces, are reliably hidden from us by official historians.
For them to build a residential mausoleum on the site of the poet's grave is a trifling matter.
But I think that over time, the truth will still come out.