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Central Park
The leafy Central Park stretches over 2km from north to south, with a large lake at its heart. Its main entrance is off the west side of mid–Bukhar Zhyrau.
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Communist Statues
A curious collection of 15 communist busts and statues, mostly Lenins, stands in a small park behind Hotel Semey, as if no one quite wanted do away with them entirely.
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Kazak Yeli Monument
Facing the pyramid across Manasa is the 91m-high tall Kazak Yeli monument, topped by a golden eagle and with a 5m bronze relief of President Nazarbaev tucked into its base.
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Karaganda Oblast Museum
The recently modernised regional museum has ample displays on local history, including a section on KarLag. Guided tours (150T), available in English, add significantly to the interest.
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Zhibek Zholy
The pedestrianised stretch of this street in the lower, northern, part of the centre is Almaty’s (sort of) version of Moscow’s Arbat. Its dotted with inexpensive cafes, a few buskers and kitsch art stands.
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Monument to the Dead of the Totalitarian Regime
At the south end of the central park on the south side of the river, near Kabanbay Batyr, is the Monument to the Dead of the Totalitarian Regime, a mound with stark sculptures commemorating victims of Soviet repression.
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History & Local Studies Museum
This museum has plenty of material on regional history including some rare archaeological pieces, and a collection of traditional Kazakh artefacts. Founded in 1883, it claims to be the oldest museum in Kazakhstan. Tours are 300T.
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Geology Museum
The intriguing Geology Museum is in the bowels of a building opposite the Hotel Kazakhstan. The countrys mineral wealth is on display, with relief maps and touch-screen computers to provide quick geology lessons in English.
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Bazar Samal
Of several new markets around the city fringes, Bazar Samal, next to Samal bus station, is the biggest and most interesting, with a particularly colourful array of rugs and textiles, as well as food and millions of items of clothing.
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Ethnography Museum
The Ethnography Museum is in two buildings facing opposite corners of Park Zhastar. Korpus No 1 exhibits the traditional culture of the Kazakhs of east Kazakhstan region; Korpus No 2 is devoted to the many other ethnic groups in the region.
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Fine Arts Museum
The collection here, one of the countrys best, covers Kazakh, Russian and Western European art from the 16th century onwards, including a not-to-be-missed Rembrandt etching and work by top 19th-century Russians such as Levitan and Kramskoy.
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Central or Upper Bazaar
The central bazaar is now somewhat diminished after the conversion of its outlying sprawl into parks and the removal of many traders to markets on the citys outskirts, but it still bustles and is a reminder of Shymkent’s long trading history.
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Duman
Adjacent to Atameken is Duman, a modern leisure centre most worth visiting for its oceanarium, which has over 2000 creatures from the world’s oceans and a 70m shark tunnel. Opposite Duman are the UFO-shaped Circus and the shiny new Mega Astana shopping centre.
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Stronger than Death Memorial
On the left, 600m past the end of the bridge, is the sombre and impressive Stronger than Death memorial erected in 2002 for victims of the nuclear tests. Above the marble centrepiece of a mother covering her child billows a Polygon mushroom cloud etched into a 30m-high black tombst
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Hilvet Semi
On a small hill within the Yasaui Mausoleum grounds stands the 12th- to 15th-century Hilvet semi-underground mosque, with the cell to which Kozha Akhmed Yasaui is said to have withdrawn towards the end of his life. Next to it stands the wood-pillared, 19th-century Friday Mosque .
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Central Mosque
Almaty’s multitowered, gold-domed, white-marble central mosque, built in 1999, is one of the largest in the country, with space for 3000 worshippers in the finely decorated main prayer hall. Its open for visits daily except Friday, women must cover their heads, arms and legs.
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Central (Gorky) Park
Central Almaty’s biggest recreational park is a somewhat untidy place whose boating lakes, funfair rides, pony rides, Aquapark , rather sad zoo, cinema, cafes and shashlyk and beer stands are particularly popular with families on Sundays and holidays. Trolleybuses 1 and 12 run ther
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Park Zhastar
The pretty, beautifully maintained central park makes for a pleasant stroll, and several of Ust-Kamenogorsk’s oldest buildings and some worthwhile museums are clustered around it. In the park itself is a replica Russian pioneer village of log cabins, furnished and decorated in peri
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Nur Astana Mosque
A block south of the western part of Nurzhol bulvar stands the beautiful four-minaret Nur Astana mosque, opened in 2005. Its prayer hall (for men only – women use the upper gallery) is an exquisite multidomed space with inscriptions and geometrical patterning in blue, white, gold a
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Shakhristan Market
For a taste of the bazaar atmosphere for which Taraz used to be celebrated, have a wander round busy Shakhristan market, across the road from the now boarded-up Green Market. Cheap Chinese clothes and shoes predominate but theres a small food section towards the east end, and a cou
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