IN MEMORY OF THE YOUNG GUARDSMEN
Atbashinskaya Street... wide, more than a hundred meters, completely overgrown with grass, with low, somewhat blind one-story houses. A haven for various domestic animals. That’s how it was until the spring of 1940. The first attempts to create an alley here date back to the early 1930s, but they were unsuccessful.
On March 18, 1940, more than a thousand townspeople - workers from the "Intergelpo," "2nd Five-Year Plan," and other enterprises and institutions - participated for the first time in a Sunday cleanup to improve the street. As a result of several volunteer workdays, by April 20, 1,900 trees, 2,000 honeysuckle bushes, acacias, roses, and 25,000 flower seedlings were planted. 58,000 bushes of a living fence were planted, and 400 kg of flower seeds were sown. A total of 12,000 square meters of the street were landscaped - from the railway line to Dunganskaya Street. Currently, the green zone includes biota, birch, elm, acacia, ash, oak, gleditsia, and among the shrubs - lilac, forsythia, and others.
A little time passed, and the plantings turned green. Thus began the life of the boulevard, which is now a favorite place for workers to relax - the Young Guardsmen Boulevard. In 1951, the plantings were extended to Lenin Street (since 1974 - the 50th Anniversary of the Kyrgyz SSR Avenue).
The first three solid three-story residential buildings were erected on the street in 1939 (architect I. Albansky). In 1940, two more buildings were added, and in 1941, just before the start of the Great Patriotic War, a three-story bathhouse was commissioned (architect P. P. Ivanov).
In October 1948, in memory of the heroism of the underground Komsomol organization of Krasnodon during the Great Patriotic War, the Council of Ministers of the Kyrgyz SSR renamed Atbashinskaya Street to Young Guardsmen Street, and on July 27, 1960, the street became a boulevard. In 1970, the boulevard was renamed to Young Guardsmen Avenue.
In the post-war period, extensive construction and improvement of the street took place. It was adorned with three-, four-, and five-story buildings of various purposes. A complex of radio and television buildings was constructed (1967, architect E. Pisarskaya), a winter swimming pool, the "Young Guardsmen" cinema, and several modern multi-story residential buildings with food and household goods stores on the ground floors.
At the end of 1957, from Lenin Street to the Big Chui Canal, a park was laid out on the site of a marshy area, named "40 Years of October." In the park, which spans 26 hectares, about 30 different species of trees and shrubs were planted. Among the tree species are elm, walnut, oak, thuja, maple, and others. The shrubs include forsythia, spiraea, lilac, and others.
In the second half of the 1960s, three water bodies were created. Planted with willow trees, they are a delight to the eye. In the center of the park, there are cafes, playgrounds, and rest areas.
In the spring of 1958, major works began on the roadway of the avenue - asphalted lanes with one-way traffic were laid on both sides of the boulevard.
In June 1963, in the center of the alley, at the intersection with Lenin Avenue, a monument was unveiled to the Komsomol members of the older generation. On a five-meter pedestal made of pink granite is a group sculpture: two Komsomol members - a Russian in the attire of the revolutionary and civil war times and a Kyrgyz from the years of the Great Patriotic War. On the pedestal is the inscription: "Eternal glory to the heroes - Komsomol members of the older generation. Komsomol members of the sixties, June 1963." The monument was erected with funds collected by Komsomol members and pioneers of the republic (the authors of the monument are sculptor V. A. Puzirevsky and architect A. I. Korzhempo).
On the 30th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet people over fascist Germany in 1975, the memorial complex "Alley of Heroes" was opened, dedicated to the Kyrgyzstanis - Heroes of the Great Patriotic War. At the entrance to the alley from Kyiv Street, the names of 70 Heroes of the Soviet Union and 27 holders of Orders of Glory of three degrees are inscribed on a slab of polished red granite. On the terraces, sculptural busts of six Panfilov heroes are installed: G. A. Petrenko, I. V. Moskalenko, G. E. Konkin, D. Shopokov, N. A. Ananyev, and Ch. Tuleberdiev, who shielded a machine gun from an enemy pillbox with his chest. The memorial was designed by architect V. Kurbatov; the busts were created by sculptors T. Sadykov, A. Mukhtidinov, V. Shestopal, G. Tupoy, Z. Khabibulin, and T. Dosmagambetov.
In 1984, the monument to twice Hero of the Soviet Union pilot T. Begeldinov was moved to Young Guardsmen Boulevard.
The street-avenue stretches from the railway line to a cascade of ponds with beaches in the green areas of the "40 Years of October" park. Along the street, an alley of eight rows of trees alternates with flower beds and lawns.
Losev D. S., Kochkunov A. S. What the Streets Tell
Streets of Bishkek
