Being, as you will have appreciated, a serious 'culture vulture' I decided to visit the State Museum. As with most of the City's important Government buildings it is located at the south end of the centre. A vast and grandiose building with enormous display rooms inside and relatively few visitors while I was there. I attach some photos which might interest you.
Left: The entrance hall. Most of the ground floor rooms were devoted to Kazakh 'ethnology', 'anthropology' and 'palaeontology'. Just a load of ancient stones, pots and pans, shards of porcelain and a few skulls in spacious display cases. Very dull.
Right: What looks like a crowd of people (above) are all 'dolls', including the chap in the chair at the front.
Left: These two were impressively made.
The two upper floors, very spacious, contained all sorts of Kazakh memorabilia such as costumes, weapons, musical instruments etc., all well displayed in large cabinets or free-standing on the floor. Right: An old Kazakh gent with his pet bird and other accoutrements.
Left: A lifelike diorama (very well constructed) of even even older Kazakhs having a picnic.
Right: A traditional yurt with old musical instruments in the foreground…..banjos and ukuleles etc.
Left: A bit of ancient weaponry.
Right:The smart man-about-town, circa 1400? Getting through the front door might have posed a problem.
Left: A rather more up to date tractor.
I went on a walk around this southern part of town which houses most of the Government and 'official' buildings. The area was noticeable for very large spaces, buildings and wide boulevards which are, I suppose, an architectural legacy of the Soviet Union era.
Right:What I think is theCity Hall, or somesuch. Plenty of office space, but I didn't see much activity or comings and goings. Maybe they are all, in true UK fashion, working from home (WFH).
Left: This sign, by the front door, explains what it is.
Left: Alongside were some very attractive and well maintained 'memorial gardens' with fountains and more statues of prominent Almatians. I was told that the Presidential Palace was, or had been, behind this. On getting there all I could see was an area shielded off by high hoardings. I believe it was the Palace, burnt down in the riots/uprising of 2022, and being rebuilt.
What I did see off a street nearby was this construction site. This, apparently, was the Presidential Library (right). Did they manage to save any books?
Further city sights while wandering downtown. Left: A couple of girls enjoying an al-fresco cup of coffee. As mentioned previously, the ladies around here all looked slim, well dressed and cheerful. I really haven't had sight of any fat, let alone obese, tattooed, nose-ringed, sullen monsters which so commonly disgrace and wobble along the streets in UK. Diet? Perhaps, but they have fast-food outlets here. I just suspect the ladies here take a pride in their appearance and demeanour from an early age.
Right: More happy girls relaxing in the sun.
Left: A street-side artist at work.
Above: Street musicians enjoying their singing…even if nobody else was.
Right: I took this poor photo of some schoolchildren, out in their playground, only because I was impressed by their enthusiasm and discipline. There was a teacher, or games-master, (in the centre somewhere) organising them in doing various excercises and drills which they carried out with great spirit and exuberance. Do our schoolchildren (when not on their mobile phones) get this encouragement?
Left: Another example of respectability. The city police were all smartly dressed, clean shaven and fit looking. They were also helpful in cheerfully directing, as best they could with the language difficulty, a stupid tourist who had got a bit lost and needed directions.
At the northern end of the city I saw a sign which pointed to the Central Mosque. I was curious, so went to have a look. Right: The Mosque in all its glory.
Left: Curiousity got the better of me…..so, shoes off, I went inside. I have never been inside a mosque before. Not many of the faithful were in, but it was probably not the popular time of day. It was very quiet with just a few of the worshippers muttering their prayers towards Mecca with bums in the air.
Right: A couple of Muslim ladies sitting outside. There were many 'headscarved' ladies about town, but not most by any means. There was certainly no sign of any wearing full face-coverings or anything so extreme. I think they are very 'moderate' Muslims….and cheerful with it!
My new hotel was, as I said earlier, well located near to a Metro station in the centre of town. There was also, much to my delight, another 'Oirish Bear' just around the corner! 'Harat's Irish Pub' (left). A very pleasant watering hole it is too, and the beer here is much cheaper than in UK.
Right: A peek inside.
Left: With rather an apt sign on a wall.
That has just about covered my brief visit to Almaty, and I was impressed. It was immaculately clean and well ordered, pleasant green parks, the locals were helpful and friendly and I have become quite good at reading Cyrillic writing.
Next stop; Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan……by train. There is a story to follow about that.
No comments:
Post a Comment