Banknotes of states are true masterpieces of visual art. What do they depict? Typically, banknotes feature a coat of arms, a portrait of the head of state or a famous compatriot, a monument of antiquity, or a landscape characteristic of the country. Soviet money usually depicted the portrait of Lenin, a worker, and a peasant. On English banknotes, we see Saint George striking a dragon with a spear, and a lion holding a key with a chain.
On Greek money, there are portraits of great philosophers, images of gods and goddesses, scenes from famous naval battles and land battles.
One of the Danish banknotes features the portrait of the fairy tale writer Hans Christian Andersen, while another features the portrait of the famous sculptor Thorvaldsen. Images of female heads are invariably present on Italian money. All Canadian banknotes from 1954 feature the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II and landscapes. Each of the U.S. bills features portraits of outstanding statesmen - Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and others. Swiss money is distinguished by various designs: working people, celebrated figures, beautiful flowers, and on the 1000 franc banknote from 1954, there is an image of the "Dance of Death." Death in a dark cloak approaches an old man, carries away a young man, and waltzes with a girl.
The life of a banknote is given by the artist who makes the sketch, the engraver transfers it to metal, and printing begins from the finished plate. Nowadays, workers in mints are assisted by smart computers, but it is still very challenging to create a miniature multicolored engraving such that no stroke of the drawing merges with another, ensuring that all lines are clear and that the colorful tones are pure and bright.
A special mesh, design, subtlety of color transitions, clean printing, and watermarks make money not only works of art but also difficult to counterfeit. Alas... Despite the fact that in ancient Rome, a counterfeit slave was executed, and a Roman citizen was fed to wild beasts, and in Russia, counterfeiters had molten lead poured down their throats, limbs severed, terrible punishments awaited them in other countries as well, - despite all these fears, money was counterfeited and, unfortunately, is still counterfeited today.
When considering how Kyrgyz money might look, the thought of "Manas" - the Kyrgyz national epic, which holds a special place among the monuments of ancient epic poetry of the world's peoples, immediately comes to mind. For ten centuries, it has been not only a source of knowledge but also inspired and warmed the people. Elders recall how in the bitter year of 1916 for the Kyrgyz, as well as in subsequent years when famine ravaged the Issyk-Kul and Naryn regions, and in the Chui Valley, people gathered to listen to wandering singers - ырычы, and how their hearts warmed at the performance of excerpts from the epics "Kurmanbek" and "Semetei," the eternal book "Manas." The living water drawn from these life-giving sources revived the dreams of the people, their will, and faith in a happy future....
It seems that the depiction of Manas on the national currency has become yet another testament to the reverence for the immortal epic, just as the reproduction of the color photograph of the statue of Manas does. The image of the unique monument of history and architecture of Kyrgyzstan from the second half of the 10th century - the Burana Tower - will always remind us of the history of Kyrgyzstan. This was the time of the greatest flourishing of the Karakhanid state and one of its capitals - Balasagun, on the territory of which the preserved tower stands. The minaret itself was apparently part of the Juma Mosque complex, which was destroyed by time. Its appearance has been captured multiple times on various badges, medals, and souvenirs.
Equally interesting is the ensemble of the Uzgen architectural complex from the 11th-12th centuries - a minaret and three mausoleums. Uzgen was the southern capital of the Karakhanid state at that time and experienced a period of great cultural and political rise. It is believed that the founder of the dynasty Nasr ibn Ali is buried in the Middle, the earliest mausoleum, and Hasan ibn Hussein ibn Ali in the Northern one. The name of the person whose remains rest in the Southern mausoleum is unknown, however, the date of construction of the mausoleum - 1187 AD - has been preserved on a terracotta slab. Burials inside the mausoleums and near them continued until the late Middle Ages, and they themselves acquired an aura of sanctity, which is still preserved by Muslims today.
Alongside it stands Tash-Rabat - one of the rare stone monuments of ancient Central Asian architecture, which stands out for its size and complexity of composition. For a long time, scholars considered it to be a caravanserai from the 15th century. However, recent studies attribute it to the 10th-11th centuries and question the purpose of the structure: perhaps it was a monastery-type dwelling or, more likely, a fortification on the route between the south and north of the Karakhanid state. Tash-Rabat was built by foreign craftsmen in the traditions of early medieval Central Asian architecture. For 300-400 years of existence, it has never been repaired.
The mausoleum of Shah-Fazil - a remarkable monument of medieval architecture - also deserves to be a decoration of the national currency, as does another masterpiece of Muslim cult architecture from the 18th century - the mausoleum of Asaf ibn Burhiya, built at the foot of Suleiman Mountain in Osh on the site of an earlier structure. Its masonry used bricks from the Samanid period, the era of the Karakhanids, and the Mongol and post-Mongol periods. Asaf ibn Burhiya was, according to legend, the vizier of the prophet Solomon and bequeathed to be buried at the foot of the holy mountain. It is possible that the artists working on the sketches of the new Kyrgyz money were also inspired by rock compositions in Aravan, which date back to the 3rd-2nd centuries BC. Here, at the foot of the rock, a shrine appeared over time - not only the drawings were revered but also the rock and trees themselves...
The name of Mahmud Kashgari, the compiler of the oldest, first in the world, "Dictionary of Turkic Dialects," is usually mentioned alongside another name - that of Yusuf Balasaguni, who created the majestic poem "The Blessed Knowledge," the first work of its kind in the Turkic language. Now historians firmly state that they were at the very origins of written Kyrgyz literature, which spans a full nine centuries, not just seven or fewer decades, as was believed quite recently.
The true decoration of the national money has become their images. Yusuf Balasaguni wrote that the word of the Turks grazed like a mountain deer, and he tamed it, made it submissive.
An outstanding poet, highly educated, and a humane person, he entered history as the founder of Turkic classical literature. His poem "The Blessed Knowledge" was presented to the Karakhanid ruler Tabgach-Boghra-Karakhana, for which he received a high court rank equivalent to a minister of the imperial court.
Prominent representatives of the Kyrgyz people include Borombai Bekmuratov, Baytik Kanaev, and Shabdan Jantayev, who remain in the popular memory as far-sighted politicians endowed with true state wisdom. The famous manap of the bugu tribe, B. Bekmuratov, when inter-tribal strife intensified in the second quarter of the 19th century, sought protection first from the Chinese authorities and then from Russia. By persuading the bugu people to become Russian subjects, he hoped to free the people from the Kokand yoke, prevent aggression from China, and avoid inter-feudal and clan conflicts.
The supreme manap of the northern Kyrgyz tribe, solto batyr Baytik Kanaev, played a significant role in bringing the Kyrgyz closer to Russia. In 1867, as a representative of the Sojak, Sarybagysh, and others, he traveled to Moscow and St. Petersburg as part of an embassy of Turkestan peoples, held the rank of captain in the Russian army, and was awarded the Great Gold Medal on the Annen ribbon and the Order of Stanislaus III class. Near Bishkek, a tomb has been preserved where the manap is buried, and the village of Orto-Alysh, where he was born, has been renamed to Baytik aiyl.
Shabdan Jantayev, the supreme manap of the Sarybagysh tribe, began his political career by fighting against the Kokand yoke in Northern Kyrgyzstan. He actively participated in the conquest of Alai by imperial troops, for which he was awarded the title of senior police officer, equivalent to the rank of colonel. Later, Shabdan was appointed assistant to the Pishpek district chief, awarded imperial honors and valuable gifts. He participated in the coronation of Alexander III. Knowing the affairs of extraordinary gatherings of biys and arbiters, he tried to be objective in judicial proceedings, preventing inter-clan strife. In his homeland, in Kemine, he founded a school, inviting teachers at his own expense. His contemporaries repeatedly noted his generosity and hospitality. Of course, B. Bekmuratov, B. Kanaev, and Sh. Jantayev were people of broad scope, not without flaws, but the fact that the memory of them lives on in the people gives them the right to be depicted on Kyrgyz money.
A true decoration of the national money has become the reproduction of the last photograph of the outstanding representative of the Kyrgyz people, the "Alai Queen," as she was called during her lifetime - Kurmandzhan Datka (1811-1907). A woman who, for the first time in the history of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, the Kokand Khanate, and the Bukhara Emirate, became a universally recognized clan leader, a shaper of the fates of the warlike Alai Kyrgyz, has now taken her place on miniature masterpieces alongside her famous ancestors and contemporaries.
Many arguments can be made to explain the appearance of the portrait of Kasym Tynystanov on one of the new banknotes: the first Kyrgyz professor, author of the first textbooks on the Kyrgyz language, one of the founders of national written literature, he was the chairman of the Academic Center of the Kyrgyz Autonomous Oblast, the People's Commissar of Education, the responsible editor of the magazine "Zhanı Madeniyat Jolunda," a research associate, head of the Kyrgyz language department, director of the Scientific Research Institute of the Kyrgyz Language and Writing, an associate professor, and later a professor at the pedagogical institute.
K. Tynystanov actively engaged in scientific-organizational and educational activities, fruitfully collaborating in local newspapers and magazines. In 1925, his first poetry collection was published in Moscow in Kazakh and Kyrgyz, and he created the dramatic cycle "Academic Evenings." He is the author of fundamental works on the grammar of the Kyrgyz language, the initiator and one of the organizers of the translation of national writing from Arabic to Latin script.
K. Tynystanov was repeatedly expelled from the VKP(b) for "nationalist" activities. On August 1, 1937, he was arrested along with his colleague, the leading linguist of modernity E.D. Polivanov, convicted, and executed as an enemy of the people. He was rehabilitated in 1958. He entered history as an outstanding scientific figure, a talented poet and playwright, and a prominent public figure.
Muradbek Ryskulov is an outstanding actor of Kyrgyz theater and cinema. From his first steps in 1936, he was accompanied by success. The Shakespearean comedy "Twelfth Night" brought wide fame to the actor, and his talent fully unfolded in Gogol's "The Inspector General." Possessing the rare gift of transformation, he was equally truthful in the deeply tragic role of Othello and in the role of the noble Akylbek in "Fate of the Father." When England celebrated the 350th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth, the audience at the London theater was captivated by the Kyrgyz Ryskulov, who performed the monologue of King Lear. The actor gained worldwide fame also thanks to the cinema.
He was a true internationalist. Doing everything in his power to glorify his nation, M. Ryskulov also treated representatives of other nationalities with deep respect. Among his true friends were Russians, Ukrainians, Uzbeks, Dungans, and many others who served alongside him for the great cause - Kyrgyz art. It seems that everyone would be pleased to hold a som with his image.
The famous ballerina Byubusara Beishenaliev was also highly regarded by the people. Arriving as a little girl at the Leningrad Choreographic School, she devoted herself wholeheartedly to ballet. Her creative debut took place in 1939 when the Decade of Kyrgyz Art and Literature was held in Moscow. On the stage of the famous Bolshoi Theater, alongside renowned masters, Kyrgyz girls performed, and among them, the 13-year-old Byubusara stood out for her grace and lightness.
The ballerina's success was the role of a young beauty in the ballet "Cholpon." A high artistic achievement for her was the role of Raymonda in the ballet of the same name. After this role, she earned the reputation of the best ballerina of Kyrgyz ballet, which stayed with her throughout her life. Her roles in "The Fountain of Bakhchisarai," "Swan Lake," and "Red Poppy" are inscribed in the golden fund of Kyrgyz ballet. Later, she danced wonderfully in the ballets "Doctor Aybolit," "Spring Ala-Too," "Under the Sky of Italy," and "Sleeping Beauty." She regularly performed in cultural palaces, clubs, field camps, remote pastures, and theaters of other republics. Byubusara also successfully acted in films. Her work was highly appreciated: she was awarded orders and medals, and one of the universities and a street in Bishkek were named after her.
B. Beishenaliev, without a doubt, rightly adorned one of the banknotes of the new currency, just as the image of the Kyrgyz State Theater and Opera and Ballet named after A. Maldybaev, where she worked, did. Its building fits into the ensemble of buildings on Theater Square, being an expressive monument of architectural and artistic culture from the late 40s to early 50s.
A special place in the life of the Kyrgyz people is held by Toktogul Satylganov, the most prominent representative of the democratic direction of Kyrgyz poetry, akyn, and composer. By the age of 15, he was widely known as an established poet and musician. The older Toktogul became, the clearer and deeper the themes of injustice and the people's need sounded in his work. The manaps organized denunciations, and the akyn, sentenced to death, after the sentence was changed, ended up in exile. Here, a new Toktogul formed with a broad understanding of the lives of the peoples of multi-ethnic Russia.
Only the third escape from hard labor was successful. He hid for three years in Talas, but the manaps, enemies of Toktogul, again sought his arrest. Then the people rose to defend their beloved akyn. His students - Eshmambet, Kalyk Akiev traveled to the ails, collecting funds for his ransom. A people's fund was created, a petition was written to the governor, and after six months, Toktogul was released from prison.
Around him gathered renowned akyns. Among them were Eshmambet, Kalyk Akiev, Barpy Alykulov, and Alykul Usenbaev, who learned poetic mastery from him and carried his songs to the people. Toktogul became, in every sense, a teacher of life. The Kyrgyz people highly honor their akyn as a true patriot, as a person whose talent made a huge contribution to the development of the nation. His immortal songs and melodies will always inspire the Kyrgyz to new achievements in the name of the future of their homeland.
In the republic, there are many places associated with the name of the beloved akyn, among them is the Toktogul Hydroelectric Power Station - a unique structure of its kind in Kyrgyzstan. In 1979, after the commissioning of the 500 kV power line, the energy systems of the north and south of the republic were united, closing the ring of the united energy system of Central Asia. Both Toktogul himself and the hydroelectric power station named after him have become worthy symbols of Kyrgyzstan on the new banknotes.
Among the classics of Kyrgyz poetry, we honor Togolok Moldo, Bayimbet Abdrakhmanov, whose portrait was eagerly anticipated on the new banknotes. For his literacy, ability to engage in long conversations, and stout figure, the akyn was given the nickname Togolok Moldo, which became his lifelong pseudonym. With it, he forever entered history. The time itself had a huge influence on Moldo's creativity: the annexation of Kyrgyzstan to Russia, the penetration of Russian and Western European culture into the lives of nomadic tribes, the revolution of 1905-1907, which stirred not only the central regions but also distant outskirts. During these years, there was the greatest rise of unrest against the dominance of the bay and manap, which is reflected in many of the akyn's works.
Togolok Moldo treated the past of the people with respect. In ancient tales and legends, he drew examples of courage, patriotism, and relentless struggle against enemies for independence and freedom. In this regard, his version of "Manas" is interesting, in which the feats of the legendary hero are described with great love. But Togolok Moldo did not idealize antiquity; he sharply opposed clan strife, which inflicted enormous damage on the already fragmented Kyrgyz. In the narrative "Division of Clans," he spoke with a heavy heart about the fact that enmity gives the people nothing but suffering and grief.
Undoubtedly, Toktogul played a huge role in the creativity of Togolok Moldo, after meeting whom the social motives in the verses of the diligent student sharply emerged, becoming more substantial and courageous. He died in January 1942. In his later years, the poet wrote:
Your gift is valued, Bayimbet!
Rejoice, old poet!
You see how your native people
Honored you in your twilight years...
Yes, this is true, and therefore the appearance of his portrait on the national currency becomes understandable. Other outstanding personalities have not remained in the shadows, such as the manaschi Sagymbay Orozbakov and Sayakbay Karalaev, singers of the majestic epic "Manas." Sagymbay grew up in a family that deeply revered and knew not only the epic "Manas" but also other tales and legends, ritual songs. From a young age, he learned to read and write from Uzbek mullahs.
At the age of twenty, Sagymbay gained real fame; he became a desired and respected guest for everyone, mastering all genres of oral poetry perfectly. The Kyrgyz, listening to "Manas" in his performance, admired his unusual eloquence, polished expressions, and improvisational skill. In his work, modern motifs and the heritage of previous generations of folk storytellers intertwined closely. From 1922 to 1926, more than 180,000 lines of only the first part of the trilogy "Manas" were recorded from his words.
Sayakbay Karalaev also devoted his entire life to studying the epic, tales, and legends, with famous akyns Suranchi, Akylbek, and especially the experienced Chouke Omur uulu as his teachers. Taking up the baton, Karalaev became an unparalleled storyteller of "Manas," from whose words over half a million lines were recorded; according to contemporaries, he knew a million lines, and he also talentfully performed other epic poems, including "Er-Toshtuk." He created a number of poetic works - "The Tale of the Golden Eagle," "Hunter Tomor," "Feathered," which reflected the best traditions of oral folk art.
Sayakbay Karalaev possessed a broad intellect, phenomenal memory, colossal imagination, and extraordinary artistic talent. The way his performance was perceived is evidenced by the following fact. In 1964, the VII World Congress on Anthropological Sciences was held in Moscow. Representatives from 60 countries attended. Karalaev performed there with separate improvisations of the epic "Manas." Everyone listened with great attention, although no one knew the Kyrgyz language; they followed every word, movement, and gesture, and when he finished, there was a storm of applause. The outstanding Kazakh writer Mukhtar Auezov called him the modern Homer, the rhapsodist of the 20th century, who represented a bright page in the history of human culture.