Guryev, Guryev town. Holidays in Atyrau things to do in Atyrau

Atyrau is a completely typical small city in western Kazakhstan. You can find yourself in it only if you are driving by car through the region to the sea, from the country to Russia, or across the whole country somewhere further. Because I can’t imagine that someone would specifically go to Atyrau on vacation. I happened to be passing through there when I was traveling from Uralsk to Aktau, I stayed only a day, during which my friends with a car managed to show me the whole city in a few hours. Which, by the way, is very young, so there are almost no beautiful old buildings of historical value there. But there are a lot of typical Soviet buildings and post-Soviet panels, and shopping centers, where would we be without them?

What to do in this city?

Since the city is divided by the Ural River into two parts and, as previously thought, into Europe and Asia, but now this issue remains controversial, the river embankment runs through the entire city. You can walk along it, ride a bike, run, sit on benches and relax under the rare shade of the trees. In this area of ​​Kazakhstan, the climate is quite warm, but in summer the high air temperature forces you to hide in houses and look for any shade as soon as you go outside. The city has a local history museum and an art museum named after. Sariev, but they are not very interesting for me to advise you to visit them. In the center of the city there are monuments to famous Kazakh musicians - Kurmangazy and Dina Nurpeisova, as well as to Sultan Beybarys, a slave stolen from the Kazakh steppes who became the Sultan of Egypt. There are several parks, I was in Victory Park and you can guess what I saw there - Soviet and modern military equipment and the eternal flame - everything that you can see in any city in the post-Soviet space. Another park is located right next to the Ural embankment and, because it is new, it looks quite fresh and it was more pleasant to walk there. And there is a sculpture of another well-known almost contemporary musicians in Kazakhstan - the Dos-Mukasan group - the first Kazakh or even Soviet psychedelic rock.

You can also see a lot of business centers in the city, and it is no coincidence that Atyrau is the center of the gas, oil and manufacturing industries. But all the most interesting and beautiful, as always, is not in the city, but beyond it, in places remote from civilization.

Pros:

• The contrast between Europe and Asia, or rather Russian and Kazakh cultures and traditions. In the city center you can find both a large mosque decorated with national ornaments and an old bright church. The Assumption Cathedral in Atyrau is a monument of the nineteenth century, still working and receiving parishioners and visiting tourists. The Imangali Mosque, a huge modern white building with a blue dome and two minarets, stands literally in the city center on the main square and fits a little strangely into administrative buildings and shopping and entertainment complexes.

• A very strange sign that shows which bank of the Ural River is Europe and which is Asia. This issue seems to remain controversial between the world's geographic communities, but that won't stop us from taking a fun photo on the border of two parts of the world.

• Shopping and entertainment complexes - there are many of them and they are large. If you suddenly go shopping or go to the cinema, or maybe you have nowhere to take your children, you are in them.
• The pedestrian bridge is the largest in the world and is listed in the Guinness Book of Records. It is built in such a way that it does not interfere with ships passing under it, or sturgeons going to spawn. It is called, rather boringly, “10 Years of Independence,” but walking along it is not at all boring - it offers a beautiful view of the city.

• In addition to oil and gas, this area has a very developed fishing industry, which means that you can try red and black caviar at prices that are not as high as in cities far from the sturgeon rivers. And seaweed caviar is sold very cheaply. Out of surprise, I bought a whole huge container, because in other cities, even in Kazakhstan, it costs several times more.
• Interesting and beautiful places in the Atyrau region. If you are a lover of history and archeology with architecture, then you can get to the ancient necropolis, which is called Akmochet Bekket - White Mosque. If you want to go even further, not so far from the city is the settlement of Sarayshyk, or rather what remains of it. It was founded during the time of Genghis Khan and Batu Khan, and now there is a memorial and historical complex there, with a museum, a mosque and the khan’s pantheons. And to unwind, you can go to the white mountains - the chalk outcrops of Akkeregeshin and Aktolagai.

Minuses:

• Soullessness. This is my very subjective opinion, but the feeling that this city was built only to pump gas and oil did not leave me for the days that I was in it. Although I know that this was not the case, it was founded back in the days of the Tsarist Russian Empire by merchants who traded fish.
• Climate. Summer is very hot and there are not many trees. But the river in the city center saves you and gives you a little coolness.
• Absence of the old city, with the exception of one area with very neglected and dilapidated houses in which people still live. The houses in their architecture reminded me a little of the Georgian ones with their balconies and columns under them, which create even more space where you can hide from the sun.

When is the best time to go?

In the warm season - spring, summer and autumn. Unless you want to walk through the frozen Urals and be blown away by the snowy wind.

What's the best way to get there?

Kazakh trains leave much to be desired, and last time I simply couldn’t find a train to Atyrau, so taxis are the most popular form of cheap transport. From Astrakhan there is a road that has not been repaired for a long time, from Uralsk it is a little better. Low-cost low-cost flights fly regularly.

In general, I advise you to spend a minimum amount of time visiting this city, and spend most of it in nature outside the city. The locals did not advise me to go to the Caspian Sea from this side, since it is covered in reeds. I haven't checked.

Atyrau is a small center in terms of population (140 thousand people) of the richest region of Kazakhstan. It is located at the beginning of the Yaik delta, 30 kilometers from the Caspian Sea. The most important oil fields of Kazakhstan are concentrated in the Atyrau region, mainly on the Emba River, and Atyrau is something like the Kazakh Surgut or New Urengoy.
But in the past it was called Guryev, and it was not named in honor of some forgotten revolutionary: the city was founded in 1615 by the merchant Gury Nazaryev, who built a fortress in exchange for a monopoly on sturgeon production in Yaik. The Kazakh “Atyrau” is translated as “Delta”, that is, the renaming destroys not the “Soviet”, but the “Russian” trace in these parts.

And this is much more symbolic than it seems.

I got to Atyrau from Uralsk by private vehicle, having covered 500 kilometers along the scorched steppe, which I have written about. We landed at the railway station, which is combined with a bus station, and then... I felt scared.

I saw the White Sun of the Desert, dazzling and scorching. I saw a yellow-brown city with almost no trees - only stone and dust, asphalt and siding. I realized that I was almost the only person of Slavic appearance on the station square, and all around were those who in Moscow were called all sorts of xenophobic terms. I felt how many people were looking at me now - I could be seen from a kilometer away. I realized that I was in Central Asia.
And moreover, I realized the most unpleasant thing: here the “national leader” is me!
For this reason, I did not take photographs in the area of ​​the station, although I wanted to photograph the bus station in an “oriental” style.
Therefore, after putting my backpack in the storage room and changing some currency, I went to the center of Atyrau by taxi.

Atyrau is a small city (140 thousand people), and almost all of it looks like this:

A sea of ​​private sector with islands of high-rise buildings. The private sector here, due to the lack of greenery and flat roofs, looks like a real slum. I photographed a pretty decent house, and I don’t have another photograph - again, imagine that your house is being photographed by some obvious southerner, and who doesn’t even know Russian.

In general, Atyrau is a city of contrasts in the original Asian sense:

Along with luxurious new buildings there are neighborhoods of wretched mud huts. In the frame below, at the very border of the center, the huts are bashfully covered by a fence, and over them hang the Grand Atyrau residential complex (left) and Atyrau Plaza (right), worthy of Moscow in both architecture and scale. Also, notice how sparse the vegetation is here:

It is not for nothing that Atyrau is called the “Oil Capital of Kazakhstan” - after all, the Kazakh Caspian region is an analogue of our Ugra. The most powerful oil fields, including the supergiants Tengiz and Kashagan (among the ten largest in the world) are just beginning to be developed, and by 2020 it is planned to bring Kazakhstan into the top 5 leaders in oil production. Kazakhstan owes its renowned economic successes not only to Nazarbayev’s competent policies (although this too), but also to the oil reserves that the Kazakh Khan was able to properly manage (which, by the standards of the former USSR, is very, very large!).

The center of Atyrau is like a “city within a city”, built primarily for foreign specialists and their services. They say that this is the most expensive city in Kazakhstan, that prices here are almost several times higher than in Astana... but only in the center! On the station square, prices are not much different from prices in Uralsk. But the center of Atyrau is luxurious:

Samara side

Historically, Guryev, located on both banks of the Yaik, was divided into two districts. The right bank was called the Samara side, and the left bank was called the Bukhara side. According to one of the options for the border between Europe and Asia, it turns out that Atyrau-Guriev is located in two parts of the world. It is no wonder that the “ideal city” was built on the Samara side. I examined it in more detail than Bukhara.

The main street here is Satpayev Street (the name is still Soviet, in honor of the great scientist Kanysh Satpayev, the founder of Soviet metallogeny and the first chairman of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR), starting at the bridge over the Yaik. A kilometer from the river the street crosses Makhambet Square:

The square is the “center of the center” in Atyrau. It reminded me a little of Moscow’s Poklonnaya Hill, and is a memorial dedicated to Makhambet Utemisov and Isatai Taimanov, the leaders of the Kazakh and Cossack uprising of 1837. In general, the idea of ​​the Kazakhs’ struggle for independence (which in fact had no greater scale than peasant unrest in the Russian provinces) is propagated competently in Kazakhstan by erecting monuments to DIFFERENT fighters for independence in different cities (Sarym-Batyr in Uralsk, Makhambet and Isatay in Atyrau ). At the same time, without loud debunkings and rewrites, without quarrels and hysterics.

I don’t know what kind of inscriptions are carved on the “stones” along the memorial, as well as what the shape of the stones symbolizes:

As you can see, two temples are directly adjacent to the square - a mosque and a church. The center of the memorial is a symbolic mound with statues of Makhambet and Isatay:

Made strongly and very Kazakh, steppe style!

In fact, it’s a stretch to consider Makhambet’s uprising as such a struggle for independence. This was an uprising of the poor against the oppressor bais, and the main opponent of Makhambet and Isatai was Khan Dzhangir - a Russian protege in the Bukey Horde, for whom Makhambet was initially a court poet. Not only the Kazakh, but also the Cossack poor took part in the uprising. The uprising was suppressed not only by the Ural, Orenburg and Astrakhan Cossacks, but also by the Kazakhs loyal to Dzhangir (who were in the minority). In general, it was a typical uprising of the mob, and the role of Dzhangir as a Russian protege and the Cossacks as punishers was already secondary.

On the edge of Makhambet Square is the Iman Mosque, completely modern, and clearly imitating the mosques of Samarkand:

If you walk about a kilometer north from the square, you can come to the Assumption Cathedral (the footage with the private sector and urban contrasts was filmed near it). The temple was built back in 1885, when Guryev was a Russian merchant town, closed during Soviet times, and was restored in a greatly modified form:

Adjacent to Makhambet Square is one of the many elite residential complexes in Atyrau. In the foreground is the Renaissance Hotel, behind it is the Ardager residential complex:

And this is what the areas along Satpayev Street look like:

Directly ahead is the Marriott Hotel. There are many cafes and shops downstairs, but banks absolutely predominate here, at least one in every building. There are many hotels and rental apartments here, and mostly “white people” live here - Canadians, Germans, Norwegians, English and others. Crazy prices here do not bother anyone: if taxi drivers take ordinary people around the city for 500 tenge (about 120 rubles), then the bourgeoisie - for 1500-2000 tenge (for comparison, a bus ticket to Uralsk costs 2500 tenge).

And they still look at me with my camera askance and with caution. And it seems like I didn’t give any obvious reasons - but there is a strong feeling of the purposeful marginalization of Russians in Kazakhstan. In Atyrau I felt like a natural “khach”, “chock” in Moscow. And this does not mean at all that no one even talked to me here - while waiting for the train at the station, I communicated quite humanly with the security guard, with the aunt in the storage room, with the student administrator in the Internet saloon, with the girl at the kiosk...

But I never left the persistent feeling that if someone wanted to take my camera away or simply beat me up, public opinion would not condemn him. Actually, as in Moscow and most large cities of Russia. The vast majority of my acquaintances will not turn away from a person, much less beat him ONLY for his nationality, they don’t mind talking to the “national people” and even helping out if necessary, but they will not condemn someone who does not shake hands with the national people or commits reprisals against him, and Moreover, they will not forgive the nationalist for what they would forgive a Russian. Everything is exactly the same here, but REVERSE.

Moreover, in Kazakhstan this is precisely everyday xenophobia. The local “police” reacted to me quite adequately - they were never interested in what I was photographing, and during the 4 hours I was at the station they only checked my documents once, and even then in a civilized manner. As they explained to me later, there are a lot of illegal migrants and guest workers from Central Asia in Kazakhstan, and the Kazakh police do not touch Russians primarily because “they work more with Uzbeks.” By the way, I also talked to the Uzbeks at the station - the Uzbeks are tougher, and in addition very religious, my Orthodox appearance clearly offended them.

Another problem is completely different relationships, a different value system. Kazakhs are more individualistic compared to Russians, but this is precisely eastern individualism, such as Japanese. There is a feeling that it is not customary here to help strangers in trouble (and how many times in Russia have I been helped out by random people I met!). But the most difficult thing is discrimination based on AGE: everyone asked me the question “What year are you?”, and when they learned that they had been since 1986, they immediately changed their faces - apparently. that they felt power over me; even one year difference in Kazakhstan significantly expands my rights. This is the price to pay for the “respect for elders” that many Russians yearn for so much. However, the specific features of local specifics are not the main thing.
And the main thing is that it is completely unclear HOW TO BEHAVIOR. After all, the reason for xenophobia is not in the nationality itself (I’m sure the attitude towards “their” Russians there is much softer), but in behavior. My behavior deviated from what was accepted here in much the same way as in Moscow - the behavior of various “guests from the sunny south”.

It was with these sentiments that I reached the bridge over the Yaik:

View from the bridge along Satpayev Street - the Marriott Hotel (more than 20 floors), in the distance - the Ardager residential complex behind Makhambet Square:

The white building of the "Brezhnev" type is the Akimat, that is, the regional administration. To the right is the Grand Atyrau residential complex:

Notice how deserted the streets are. Of course, this was filmed in the hottest time, but the Samara side is really very sparsely populated, not to mention the Bukhara side.

View along the Yaik, the border of the parts of the world - Europe on the left, and Asia on the right:

Notice how muddy the water is in Yaik. And here it is about as wide as the Moscow River. On the Samara side there is the largest elite complex (already the usual type of residential complex + hotel) - the Grand Atyrau residential complex, which has become a symbol of the city, and the Renko hotel of an interesting shape:

Bukhara side

The Bukhara side, apparently due to its position in Asia, is no longer so elite. It is intended more for the local, Kazakh elite, and not for foreigners. Everything is a little simpler here:

Many buildings are clearly “internal use”, for example, the pastel-colored Sports Palace on the left. And the new ones are much more primitive:

I didn’t shoot much here, because it’s much less calm on the Bukhara side. However, the abundance of Stalinist buildings immediately caught my eye:

It’s like the “ideal Soviet city” from tourist postcards from Central Asia, only instead of slogans there are billboards. At the beginning of the bridge there is a stele, the same as on the Samara side:

And the Stalins here are very impressive and very appropriate:

On one of the buildings there was a stunningly beautiful portal in the Bukhara style, but I didn’t photograph it - a policeman was standing nearby. And, alas, I wouldn’t give a ride to a foreign specialist who takes photographs of his places of work as souvenirs. More likely, for an attacker who wanted to “harm” foreign specialists in order to undermine the economic prosperity of Kazakhstan.

Typical Stalinist buildings from the Bukhara side. The footage is so-so, I know - this one was destroyed by the Sun:

And I filmed this one while walking from the taxi window, simultaneously telling the taxi driver that I have friends living here, I studied with them in Chelyabinsk, and was driving through Uralsk and arrived ahead of time, and while they were still at work, I decided to take a walk:

The most spectacular building on the Bukhara side is the Kazakh Theater named after Makhambet, apparently built in the 1950s:

Theoretically, in Atyrau there is another interesting Stalinist district - Zhilgorodok, that is, the Stalinist social city of oil refinery workers (and there is an oil refinery in Atyrau), built in the national style, and low-rise buildings predominate there. But I didn’t go there - I was tired and I was too nervous.

In general, I liked Kazakhstan: it is an established, mature state. The Kazakhs themselves are a fairly civilized Asian people, like the Koreans. There is, of course, a lot of cattle here - but about the same as in the Slavic countries of the former USSR.
And the further, the more I think that I want to return to Kazakhstan, to see Alma-Ata, Astana, Turkestan, Semipalatinsk, Mangyshlak, Bur Abay and much more.

I left Atyrau by night train to Astrakhan, but the next report, to complete the steppe theme, will be about Baskunchak.

Why look far away to enjoy the beauty of the creations of the great architect - nature? Why go to unknown distances to plunge into clear sea waters? After all, why spend extra money to have a fun vacation? After all, very close by there is an unusually hospitable country with an amazing ethnic group, fantastic natural landscapes and a wonderful warm sea. Her name is Kazakhstan. The city of Atyrau is one of its tourist centers. The doors of the best hotels are always warmly open there and they are always ready to do everything to make their guests’ stay memorable for a long time.

Location

Previously, there was a large Caspian city of Guryev on the world map. In 1991 it was renamed Atyrau. Kazakhstan is a country that is located in both Europe and Asia. One of the sections of the division passes to Atyrau, as evidenced by a memorial sign.

The city is located in the western part of the country and occupies areas on both banks of the legendary Ural River. once splashed around the city borders. But the water level has dropped significantly, and now the distance to the coast is about 20 km. Highways to Russian Astrakhan and Kazakh Uralsk pass through the city. It also has rail links and an airport with flights to many major cities including Moscow, Amsterdam, Istanbul and Dubai.

Natural resources

Atyrau (Kazakhstan), with a population of more than 180 thousand people, is the unofficial oil capital of the country and the official administrative center of the Atyrau region. The new name in Kazakh means “lagoon”, “mouth of the river”. It is ideal for the city, since it is in this area that the Ural flows into the Caspian Sea. The river divides the city into west and east, and 8 bridges, one of which is pedestrian, connect them. The city lies on a semi-desert type of undulating topography with patches of sand dunes and interspersed salt marshes. Cretaceous deposits located in the Zhylyoi region will help you remember Atyrau, Kazakhstan and your vacation for the rest of your life. These are Aktolagai, Mount Imankare and Akkeregeshin, famous for their beauty and silence. By the way, here you can not only look, but also dig up with your own hands the remains of creatures that lived on Earth next to dinosaurs! There are no special highways built there yet, so you need to get there with someone who knows the area well.

A little history

The first tribes began to explore the Caspian lowland more than 10 thousand years ago, as evidenced by dozens of archaeological excavations. In 1640, in the delta of the Urals (Yaik), the Russian merchant Guriy Nazarov built a fort, which gave rise to the city of Guryev, now Atyrau. Kazakhstan attracted him with its Caspian Sea, in whose waters there were a lot of sturgeon. The area at that time belonged to the Nogai Khanate. Its capital Sarai-Dzhuk (now Saraichik) was located 50 km from the place chosen by the merchant. To start construction and business, the khan had to pay a tax. The children of Guria added oil production to fishing. Later, these lands came under the auspices of the Cossack army, called Yaitsky after the river. Gradually a city began to grow here. During the Pugachev uprising it was occupied by Stepan Razin. The memory of this event remained in the renaming of Yaik to the Urals. This is what Catherine II wished, so that even the river would not remind anyone of troubled times. The riches of the region contributed to the rapid growth of the city. Before the revolution, more than 10 thousand people lived here. With the advent of Soviet power, the construction of new industrial facilities began, a railway line was laid, and the first (pontoon) bridge across the Urals was built. Nowadays Atyrau is a large cultural and industrial center, prosperous and dynamically developing.

Attractions

On the lands that once belonged to the nomadic tribes of the Nogai Khanate, which broke away from the Golden Horde, stands the glorious city of Atyrau. Kazakhstan carefully preserves its history, traditions, and cultural values. Unfortunately, the capital of the Nogais, the city of Sarai-Dzhuka, no longer exists. But in its place a memorial complex "Saraishyk" has now been created. It is one of the main attractions of Atyrau. Underground mosques, koshkartas (stone sculptures), and gravestones are also of great interest. Unique monuments are the Zhuban mausoleum and the Aktobe ancient settlement. The village of Kulsary is also interesting, where the Duysek mosque is located in the family cemetery. And although these attractions are about two hours away from the city, they are very popular among tourists. In Atyrau itself, you should definitely see the Imangali Mosque, the Orthodox Assumption Cathedral and the local history museum.

Where to stay

So, the choice has been made, the tickets have been purchased. The beautiful Atyrau sea is ahead! The question of where to stay should not cause difficulties, since there is a wide selection of hotels in the city, differing in the number of stars and pricing policy, but not in service. He is excellent everywhere. Among the three-star hotels we can name the Chagala Hotel, located on the banks of the Urals. There are spacious, cozy rooms with a kitchenette and a delicious breakfast, and the staff is always friendly and helpful. The inexpensive but very good Victoria Palace hotel, the three-star Dana, Raikhan, Tengri and others are also popular. For those who can afford to live outside the city, the Altyn Sazan recreation center is located in the forest on the banks of the Urals. It provides excellent rooms, a beach, a restaurant, football and volleyball fields, even a small zoo. Another wonderful refuge can be the Meken land, where there is a shooting range, fishing and hunting areas, an equestrian club, and a hunting dog kennel. Those who need to heal bones, joints, nerves, skin, or improve their health in general, can relax in the wonderful Atyrau balneological sanatorium, located in the very center of the city.

Holidays like royalty

Atyrau has several excellent four and five star hotels. All services here meet international standards. One of them is the Renaissance Hotel, located within walking distance of all important city sites. Here guests will find truly royal apartments, equipped with all the necessary equipment. Guests can use the sauna, swimming pool, spa, fitness center, and bar. The Renaissance Hotel consistently receives the highest ratings and is rightfully considered one of the best in the city. Hotel "Kazakhstan" in Atyrau also gives its guests a wonderful holiday. It is located in the central area, next to a large supermarket, cinema and mosque. Guests are provided with standard, deluxe and junior suite rooms, a swimming pool, bar, sauna, beauty salon, free parking, care and attention of the staff.

The city of Atyrau, located in the western part of the Republic, is also called ‘lagoon’ - this is an exact translation from Kazakh. The city is actively developing. There are many interesting places here. Let's find out which attractions of Atyrau you should visit first.

All interesting places in Atyrau are attractions with a rich history. They are located both in the city center and on the outskirts. Here are the best ones:

Monument to Sultan Beybarys

The Egyptian Sultan Beybarys, nicknamed after the emir al-Bundukdari who ransomed him, gained fame thanks to his military exploits and years of successful rule. According to various versions, he was born in 1223 (1225) in an area located in the Polovtsian steppes, and was from the Kipchaks. The Sultan died in 1277 from poisoning.

The Atyrau authorities erected a granite monument to the famous countryman in May 2000. The official opening on July 5 of the same year was attended by Nursultan Abishevich Nazarbayev.

The statue is located in front of the regional akimat building on Aiteke bi street. This is an almost 12-meter high monument, located on a hill, to which granite steps lead.

The author of the sculpture is Kadirkhan Kakimov, the performer is Baglan Zhumabai. According to the author’s idea, elements were erected next to the statue: a pyramid and a yurt, which symbolize the Sultan’s belonging to two cultures (by birth and achievements). An image of a sphinx is carved on the pyramid, and on the surface of the yurt there is an inscription made in runic symbols.

The following words are engraved:

“To my people, my land and water. For this Turkic population to become the People, we did our job. Kultegin."

Monument to Kurmangazy

The monument to the Kazakh composer and world-famous dombra player was erected on Azattyk Avenue. Its official opening took place in July 2000.

What is the ancestor famous for? Because in the 19th century he was one of the first to translate his freedom-loving thoughts into music. His first kui and all subsequent works are dedicated to the people's struggle, the leader of the uprising I. Taimanov, who led the Kazakhs in the fight against Khan Dzhangir and against colonization carried out by the Russian Empire.

He was imprisoned more than once for supporting the rebels. He was buried unknown on the territory of the Astrakhan region. His good name was rehabilitated a little later. This is the merit of the composer Brusilovsky, who discovered the classical music of the disgraced dombra player for the Kazakhs.

Monument to Dina Nurpeisova

The famous domplayer, student of kuisha Kurmangazy, Dina Nurpeisova, also became famous thanks to the compositions of kuis. Her musical works are a successful and dynamic combination of classical and modern music. By their nature, kuis are melodic, but Dina, while maintaining their theme, radically changed the method of performance.

She was born at the end of the 19th century in an area located in the Atyrau region. Nurpeisova experienced major military events that affected her homeland. Having gone through all the tragic moments in life, Dina brought sharp drama to her music. Her performance on the dombra could not help but fascinate with its virtuosity and psychological intensity.

Dina Nurpeisova was a real dombra virtuoso and composed many beautiful works. They became classical music, characteristic of the early 20th century.

The monument to Dina was erected in September 2000 on Satpayev Avenue, not far from the music academy named in her honor. The figure of the famous domplayer is made of bronze; it is installed on a granite pedestal. The sculptor depicted Dina sitting in a pose characteristic of dombra players with her favorite instrument in her hand.

Museum named after Sariev

The regional museum contains works by local famous artists. If you visit this cultural place, you will get acquainted with the creative heritage of the region, learn the history of the city of Atyrau and get acquainted with interesting facts from the life of the region.

The museum named after the artist Shaimardan Sariev is a small, well-kept building that looks like a traditional House of Culture. It is located on Azattyk Avenue. It was opened relatively recently, in 1992. It is considered one of the most significant cultural centers in the region.

The museum has eight rooms (with a total area of ​​about one thousand square meters), in which about one and a half thousand works of art are exhibited. The works of such famous masters as E. Zhumbayeva, R. Slekenov are exhibited. In 2001, a children's studio was opened here. The museum regularly hosts conferences and conventions of artists.

Assumption Cathedral

The cathedral, outwardly similar to most Orthodox churches, was built in 1885 by the Tudakov merchants. Construction took ten years. The result is the 40-meter Cathedral of the Assumption of the Mother of God with seven gilded domes and traditional green tiles on the roof.

The temple is located on Taimanov Avenue, not far from the historical center. At one time, the cathedral became the center of the settlement. It is made in the pseudo-Russian style from baked bricks, and is very beautiful in appearance, which ensured its place of honor among architectural monuments.

The cathedral is quite spacious: its area of ​​230 m² can accommodate nine hundred people at a time. It was sealed after the revolution. Opened immediately after the war. In Soviet times, due to lack of funding, the building became very dilapidated, but in 2000 it was restored and took on its original appearance.

Imangali Mosque

Among the many architectural monuments there is also the huge Imangali Mosque - the tallest in the western part of Kazakhstan. This tall building with snow-white walls is crowned with a blue 23-meter dome and decorated with two 26-meter minarets. The mosque was built in 2001 in accordance with the canons of true Muslim architecture.

Photo: Tourist portal of Atyrau

The construction of the two-story building was carried out under the leadership of the architect Shukhrat Yusupov. The area of ​​the temple is one thousand square meters, which allows it to accommodate 700 people at a time. The layout of the building is traditional: a large hall with balconies, a separate room for women with lattice wooden walls and a hall for rituals and conversations.

The mosque is located on Satpayev Avenue, not far from the embankment, just opposite the Assumption Cathedral. These are the most visited attractions in Atyrau. The temple is separated from the surrounding high-rise buildings by a green zone.

Akmochet-Beckett

This historical and spiritual architectural monument is called Akmechet-Bekket, which translates as ‘White Mosque’. This is a complex that includes chalk buildings located on the surface of the earth, an underground temple and a necropolis. In total there are 32 kulpytas, 13 of which are of historical and architectural value, two koitas and a domed mausoleum, one saganat.

The religious building was built in the 19th century and named after the famous scientist and religious figure Beket-ata. According to legend, at the age of 14 he went on a pilgrimage to the grave of Saint Shopan-ata, near which he spent three days and gained enlightenment and a thirst for knowledge.

At the age of 40, the learned husband became a Sufi and began teaching children. A few years later he devoted his life to travel related to religious and scientific research. Beket-ata built four mosques during his life, but the “White Mosque” was built by his student.

The architectural ensemble is located thirty kilometers from Atyrau, a city rich in cultural attractions. The necropolis and other buildings of the White Mosque are constantly visited not only by admirers of the saint and scientists, but also by tourists coming to Atyrau.

Chalk outcrops

In the Zhylyoi district of the Atyrau region, the most unique cretaceous deposits in the Republic, Akkeregeshin and Aktolagai, are located. These chalk mountains are of interest not only to geologists and paleontologists. Anyone who likes fantastic landscapes wants to visit here.

Fossil remains of dinosaurs and other ancient inhabitants are often found on the territory. Chalk sculptures created by nature itself, quaint caves beckon with their beauty.

Settlement Sarayshyk

If you move upstream of the Urals, then fifty kilometers from Atyrau, in the Makhambet region, you will come across a medieval settlement, called by the locals Sary-Aichik, or Saraishyk.

The ruins of an ancient large trading city date back to the 12th century. It was built on the site of the more ancient settlement of Saksina (10th century). Caravan routes connecting Europe and Central Asia with China ran here.

At one time, the Tatar-Mongols raided the settlement. It was the cultural center of the Golden Horde, and after its collapse - the capital of the Nogai Horde that replaced it. The settlement was destroyed in the 16th century by Cossack gangs.

A memorial complex with a museum was built not far from the ruins. It is called "Khan's Headquarters". According to legend, five Golden Horde, two Nogai khans and one Kazakh khan met their death in Saraishyk.

The historical, religious and architectural attractions of the city of Atyrau are popular among tourists and local residents. All of them are associated with important historical events or dedicated to significant personalities.

If you want to better understand the history of Kazakhstan, starting from the times of the Golden Horde, be sure to visit these iconic places.