Showing 1-14 of 14 results
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'White House'
An unmarked marble palace full of chandeliered offices just west of the square, the 'White House', is the seat of the Kyrgyzstan government, including the president's office and the republic's parliament. Behind this is Panfilov Park, full of rusting rides and arcades.
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Ala-Too Sqare
This sea of concrete ceased to be called Lenin Sq in 1991. Lenin enjoyed centre stage on his plinth until August 2003, when he was relegated to the square behind the museum and replaced by (yet) another statue of Erkindik (Freedom). The Kyrgyz flag in the square is lowered every day at dusk.
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Alamedin bazaar
Smaller markets include the Alamedin bazaar, 2.5km to the northeast (trolleybus 7 or 9 from TsUM, return by bus 20 or 38), open daily.
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Dom Druzhby
The conspicuously older structure northeast of Ala-Too Sq at Pushkin 68 was the headquarters of the Central Committee of the Kyrgyz ASSR, declared in 1926. It's now home to the Dom Druzhby community centre for advocacy and self-help groups, as well as a drab zoology museum.
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Dordoy Bazaar
Dordoy Bazaar (nicknamed Tolchok, which means 'jostling crowd') is a huge weekend flea market of imported consumer goods and junk about 7km north of the centre. You might strike gold with the occasional North Face jacket here. Buses 185, 132, 25 and 200 run to Dordoy from the northern corner of Soviet and Chuy.
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Dubovy Park
Dubovy Park, full of strollers on warm Sundays, has a few open-air cafés and some neglected modern sculpture and funnily enough, century-old oaks. Where Erkindik prospektisi (Freedom Ave) enters the park, there is an open-air art gallery. Nearby is the Erkindik (Freedom) Statue, formerly a statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky, founder of the Soviet secret police.
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Frunzwe House-Museum
Is this thatched cottage really where the little Frunze played with his toy soldiers, or just the Soviet way with history? In any case the meticulous two-storey Frunzwe House-Museum engulfing it - showcasing Frunze as a military and family man, plus the requisite posters, weapons, flags and statues - has itself become a piece of history.
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Log House
An incongruous, well-preserved Russian-style Log House, west of Togolok Moldo (now the Ecotour office), is a reminder of the town's Russian past.
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Orthodox church
One of the more poignant reminders that there is still a Russian community here is the pretty, blue-steepled Orthodox church .
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Ortosay Bazaar
Ortosay Bazaar, 4km to the south (trolleybus12 on Soviet). Open daily but the biggest on weekends.
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Osh bazaar
The city has three daily farmers' markets, all fairly distant from the centre. Osh bazaar, 3km to the west on Chuy, though not very colourful, offers a glimpse of Kyrgyz and Uzbeks from the more conservative south of the republic. Produce is sold inside the main bazaar and all around the outside of the complex. There is a separate clothes market south of the main produce bazaar. To get there take trolleybus 14 on Chuy, bus 20 or 24 on Kiev, or 42 from Soviet.
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State Historical Museum
Sure, there are yurts, a mummy, carpets, embroidery and even open-air balbals (Turkic totemlike gravestones) in the State Historical Museum, but the highlight is the mural-cum-shrine to Lenin and the Revolution upstairs. Former US president Ronald Reagan is immortalised wearing a skull, astride a missile and grinning wildly. Nazi Germany is depicted as a rampaging bear while (surprise, surprise) Mother Russia as a beautiful woman clutching a white dove. English and lighting is minimal.
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WWII monument
Victory Square is a weedy plaza where an immense yurt-shaped WWII monument, erected on the 40th anniversary of the end of the war, sprawls across an entire city block. On cold evenings you might see a knot of young men passing the bottle and warming themselves at its eternal flame. On weekends it's the destination for an endless stream of wedding parties posing for photographs.
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Zhirgal Banya
Buy tickets for the Zhirgal Banya from the kassa (ticket office) around the side. Old ladies sell birch twigs outside the baths for those into a bit of self-flogging.
Showing 1-14 of 14 results
