Bishkek Museums
International Museum Day
Today is International Museum Day and I thought I would take the opportunity to outline some of the museums in the capital. Indeed, for those visitors with time on their hands, Bishkek has a number of museums. Some of them are small and receive few visitors, but you will receive a warm welcome in all of them. In most of them, the displays are in Russian and/or Kyrgyz only.
The most famous museums are:
The Historical Museum
Ala Too Square
Tel. 62-60-97; 62-60-85
Open daily except Monday 09:00 – 17:00
196 Sovietskaya
Tel: 661624
Closed Mondays, Open: Tue-Sun : 10:00-17:00, (Fri 10:00-16:00)
Frunze Museum
Frunze 364 at the intersection with Razzakova (across from the Jogorku Kenesh building)
Tel.: 625089; 660604
Open 10:00 to 17:00 daily – except Monday
Less well known museums are:
The Gaspar Aitiev Studio
On the corner of Tynystanova and Chokmorova.
Aitiev was a painter and sculptor and the museum is housed in what was his studio and houses some of his work including landscapes, sketches in charcoal and pastels and sculptures from driftwood.
The Semen Chuykov Museum
Chuikova St 87a (between Tynystanova and Sovietskaya, near the train station – It canbe difficulat to find; the easiest access on foot from Bokonbaeva/Sovietskaya is to walk up Sovietskaya toward the railway, pass Turkish Air and a hairdressers, turn right and it will be on your right.)
Tel. 30-33-64
Open Mon-Fri 09:00-17:00, (closed from 12:00 to 13:00 for lunch)
The Murataaly Kurenkeev Museum
At the Kyrgyz State Music College.
The museum was opened in 2011 in honour of 150th anniversary of the folk musician/composer Murataaly Kurenkeev and 70 years of the oldest musical institution in Kyrgyzstan, which is named after him. Learn about the life and work of Kurenkeev and the history of the college.
The Olga Manuilova Museum
Tynystanova 108, between Kievskaya and Toktogul
Tel.: 661174
Open Mon-Fri 09:00-17:00 (Closed 12:00-13:00 for lunch)
The National Library
Sovietskaya 208 at the intersection with Frunze
Tel. 30-47-04
Open daily 09:00-17:00
The Open Air Sculpture Museum
in Oak Park.
Inaugurated in 1984 to mark the 60th Anniversary of the Kyrgyz Republic, sculptors from all over the Soviet Union were invited to submit pieces under the title “Peace and Labour” and there work was exhibited in the park. Many of the metal pieces, including a bronze bust of Yuri Gargarin, have since disappeared – plundered, stolen, for their scrap value.
The Ischak Razzakov Memorial Museum
The decision to turn the home of Ischak Razzakov, former First Secretary of the Central Committee, into a memorial museum was taken in 1998 – but it was only in 2005 that the museum opened it’s doors and welcomed its first visitors.
The Turgunbai Sadykov Museum
In the T. Sydykov National Academy of Arts, Togolok Moldo 50 (at the intersection with Ryskulova)
Tel. 32-47-43
Open: Mon-Fri 09:00-16:00
The Aaly Tokombaev Museum
109 Chuikova
Tel.: 300357
Open: Mon-Fri : 09:00-17:00
The Toktogul Literary Museum
Toktogul St. #111
Tel. 62-69-01
Open: Mon-Fri 09:00-17:00 – Closed for lunch 12:00-13:00
The Zoological Museum
In the Academy of Sciences, Prospect Chui
Mon-Fri 10:00-17:00
Mineralogical Museum Contains examples of minerals found throughout the country.
164 Propect Chui
Mon-Fri : 09:00-15:30
Outside Bishkek there are:
The Ala Archa National Park Museum
A few kilometers inside the park. The two storey building houses the administration offices of the park and has a room dedicated examples of the wildlife found here and Issyk Kul.
Ata-Beit Memorial and Museum in Chon-Tash
Chon-Tash village, (following the road from the city center to Ala-Archa National Park, turn left at the arch with the red star, then after about 2-3 miles, in the center of the village, turn left and the entrance is just past a large farm on the right. There is a grey sign announcing the memorial. Turn right up the hill and follow the road to the parking lot.)
Open every day, 9am-5pm
This somber memorial and museum was built to commemorate those arrested and killed in Bishkek in November 1937 for political reasons. It is believed that during the first week of November, 1937, nearly 140 people – most of whom were within the Kyrgyz Soviet government – were rounded up, brought to the “resort” of Chon-Tash, shot and buried in a mass grave in an old brick kiln. The identities of all but one of the recovered bodies have been documented, putting a very human face on the excesses of Stalinist times. The event was kept a secret until the 1980s when a watchman at the time of the murders told his daughter just before he died. After perestroika, she told the police. In 1991, the bodies were moved to a mass grave nearby and a memorial was built.
The site includes a striking monument; a museum that includes documents, belongings and photographs of those killed; and the kiln where bodies were dumped.
Unfortunately, closed at the moment for renovations or other reasons are:
The Archeological Museum
In the Academy of Sciences
The Geological Museum
30 Erkindik
The National Bank Museum
This is supposed to contains examples of money – coins, banknotes, treasury documents – both real and counterfeit, but we have never been able to track down details of the museum and opening hours.
Bishkek