Issyk-Kul State Historical and Cultural Reserve Museum

The Issyk-Kul State Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve (in Cholpon-Ata) occupies an area of 42 hectares and is the most accessible and visited part of the northern Issyk-Kul cluster of rock carvings (petroglyphs). The museum is located in the center of Cholpon-Ata, approximately 1 km from Lake Issyk-Kul and the Cultural Center "Rukh Ordo" named after Ch. Aitmatov. The museum has existed since the Soviet era, and little has changed since its establishment. The facade of the museum building and its exhibition halls are themselves historical landmarks, transporting us back to the 1980s, when this museum was created.

The museum includes a main exhibition and a souvenir shop. It showcases valuable artifacts of history, archaeology, nomadic household items, folk applied art, as well as information about Lake Issyk-Kul.



The museum building is divided into thematic halls. Here you can find exhibitions dedicated to the flora and fauna of the Issyk-Kul region, items related to the life of nomads from the 10th to the early 20th centuries, artifacts of Buddhist culture, ancient coins, weapons, and more. Separate stands are dedicated to the main epic of the Kyrgyz people – "Manas," Lake Issyk-Kul, applied art and painting, folk musical instruments, cultural and artistic figures of the Pre-Issyk-Kul region, national clothing, and the Great Patriotic War of 1942-45.

The majority of the exhibits in the museum in Cholpon-Ata are genuine artifacts, which is especially valuable for visitors to the exhibitions. Of great interest are the crude yet highly functional stone and bronze tools dating back to the 2nd-1st centuries BC, found in the area of Salomat-Bulak. The enormous Saka bronze cauldrons (3rd-4th centuries BC), raised from the bottom of Issyk-Kul, impress with their size and manufacturing technique. The collection of ancient coins, which narrates the development of commodity-money relations in Kyrgyzstan, is also fascinating, starting from cowrie shells that served as money among underdeveloped tribes to coins of more sophisticated minting from the period of the Karakhanid dynasty (10th-12th centuries). Chinese coins and Buddhist and Tibetan artifacts are also found, indicating a close historical connection between Kyrgyzstan and neighboring China.



Additionally, here you can see items raised from the bottom of the Kyrgyz "Baikal." For example, an ancient stone table that was used in the past for sacrifices. Its massive legs are shaped like figures of women.

The written culture monuments of the Kyrgyz people found here are interesting, many of which are attributed to the epic of Manas – a kind of Renaissance in the oral creativity of the Kyrgyz people. This refers to the works of the most outstanding figures of art and culture in the Pre-Issyk-Kul region.

The pride of the Issyk-Kul Museum is a pavilion with magnificent woolen Kyrgyz carpets, where you can also see a mini-installation of a Kyrgyz White Yurt. Looking inside this traditional dwelling of Central Asian nomads, you will see the walls of the dwelling draped from floor to ceiling with colorful and warm felt shirdaks and ala-kiyiz (carpets), neatly folded in a juke (opposite the entrance to the yurt) are the mattresses and pillows, in front of which was the place of the yurt's owner or an honored guest, and the mandatory attribute of the yurt – large iron-bound chests with belongings and dishes. In the center of the yurt was the hearth – tündük, to the left of it was the men's half, and to the right – the women's. Kitchen utensils and food were separated by an embroidered mat – ashkana chiy. The White Yurt is a symbol of the lifestyle of the Kyrgyz, a place where their childhood, youth, and old age unfolded.



The open-air museum-reserve or the Petroglyph Museum, which is a subdivision of the Cholpon-Ata museum, is located in the foothills from the village of Kara-Oy to the village of Khutor. Here, on a vast territory of the reserve, stone boulders with numerous rock carvings of animals, humans, hunting scenes, rituals, etc., have been preserved. Other branches of the museum are scattered across nearby villages: Ananyevo, Korumdu, Komsomol, Bosteri, Chirpykty, Toru-Aityr, and Semenovka. In total, the branches of the Issyk-Kul Museum hold about 15,000 exhibits, including separate collections.

The petroglyphs are carved on the surfaces of granites and sandstones, covered with a patina of brilliant black and brown colors with various shades. This unique sun tan formed under the influence of very intense solar radiation in this area over many thousands of years. The drawings were made using tools made of metal or hard stone. The sizes of the stone canvases range from 0.3 to 3.0 meters.

It was a giant temple under the open sky, which once occupied the western part of Cholpon-Ata, where people worshipped celestial bodies and performed religious rituals. The rock carvings played an important role in carrying out these rituals, serving as a kind of virtual sacrifice and prayer captured in stone. Near the large petroglyphs are circular stone structures, possibly clan and family shrines, with a very interesting natural phenomenon – a geomagnetic anomaly, favorable for humans. There are grounds to believe that the large stone circles were used as astronomical "observatories" for observing the movement of celestial objects.



The Issyk-Kul petroglyphs are unique in many aspects. Firstly, due to the artistic realism of the images, many of which belong to the masterpieces of the Scythian-Saka "animal style." Secondly, the size of some petroglyphs exceeds 1 meter, which is extremely rare. Thirdly, the uniqueness of many scenes and plots. Fourthly, the unprecedented technique of applying individual drawings, for example, the relief image of a deer made using the natural protrusions of the stone.
The embodiment of all these distinctive features is the central petroglyph located at the lower part of the museum. In the foreground is depicted a herd or family of mountain goats (too-teke or ibex). The figures of the mountain goats are perhaps the largest in Central Asia, presented in motion with extraordinary expressiveness and vividness.

The central stone in the museum-reserve is an outstanding example of the Saka "animal style." In the background, figures of hunters and tamed leopards are shown in the process of drive hunting. Such a type of hunting existed only in Ancient Egypt, where domesticated cheetahs were used to hunt gazelles. By the way, there is a petroglyph in the museum depicting cheetahs in various dynamic poses, which also has no analogs.

Of great interest are the single and double images of deer, which are an artistic embodiment of the mythological mother-deer – an image widely spread in Semirechye, Altai, and Southern Siberia. One of the Kyrgyz tribes, buгу (literally translated as the noble deer), revered the mother-deer as their totem and progenitor.



Numerous images of camels with drivers and riders prove the existence of the northern branch of the Great Silk Road, passing along the shores of Issyk-Kul even during the Saka-Usun period (8th century BC - 5th century AD). This is also evidenced by the findings of coins from various peoples that circulated along the Great Silk Road at different times.

It should be noted the continuity of artistic traditions, as many patterns within the figures of animals carry significant meaning and are used in modern folk art.

In the summer of 2002, with the assistance of the Federal Republic of Germany, the restoration of the petroglyphs was carried out.

You can view photos of the museum in our photo gallery

Address: 69 Sovietskaya St.
Phone: +9960550 448 313, +9960394342148
Working hours: from 8:00 to 18:00 without days off
Entrance: paid, cost: for residents of the Kyrgyz Republic – 10 soms, for tourists – 40 soms per person
Email: issykkul_museum@mail.ru