Jim Schroder's Travel

Home
Trips

Select Page

Kyrgyzstan

In the city of Karakol we visit the Holy Trinity Cathedral, a Russian Orthodox church, completed in 1895. During the Soviet occupation times, the church was used as an officer's Club. Now it is restored in use as a church again.

The cathedral was originally built of stone in 1872, when Karakol was a garrison town established as an outpost on the edges of the Tsarist Russian Empire. It was destroyed in 1890 by an earthquake. The current cathedral took 6 years to rebuild out of wood on a brick base.

During an anti-Russian uprising in 1916 its monks were brutally murdered. Over the years, particularly following the Revolution in 1917, it has been used as an educational center housing a school, ladies' gymnasium and an institution of Higher Education; a Sports Hall; a Theater; a Dance Hall and even as a Coal Store.

Sign that has to be old showing a camera inside the church.

Wild flowers growing in the gardens of the Church.

Then, in 1991, following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Independence of Kyrgyzstan, the local authority once again gave the building back to the church, with the proviso that all further restorations were their responsibility.

Karakol Regional Museum. The museum has a colorful collection of national costumes, examples of finely worked silver jewellery and a good exhibition of Kyrgyz applied art. One hall covers the region's flora and fauna –

The atmosphere of Karakol is reminiscent of Tsarist Russia, with traditional Russian houses as you see in this photo an old Russian house, very typical still in good shape. The town is one of a few remaining large Slavic communities in Central Asia.

Photo of Lake Issyk-Kul and surrounding areas.

The Dungan Mosque is one of the famous tourist spots in the location of Karakol that you can pay a visit to. This is a wooden mosque with a great artistic value. The mosque is known to be built in 1910 by Chinese artisans especially for the Chinese Muslims who escaped the intolerance in the 1880s.

The appearance of the mosque resembles Buddhist pagodas and you would find a lot of images in the design of the same. One of the most surprising facts about this mosque is that the artisans didn’t use any nail while building this beautiful architecture. In the 1880's Karakol's population surged with an influx of Dungans, Chinese Muslims, fleeing warfare in China.

In an around Lake Issyk-Kul is the State Historical Cultural Museum Reserve, an "Open Air Museum". Walking around the grounds one finds the Petroglyphs located on the hillside above the town of Cholpon-Ata.

Unique size images of mountain goats depicted on a stone board in local animal style. Majestic figures of animals emphasize their importance.

Two artistic drawings of large deer with branching antlers. Their exquisite torsos are elongated, small heads are raised and antlers are depicted frontally.

Walking around the grounds and Petroglyphs.

Most of these etchings are from the time of Saka-Usun peoples who lived in the area before the arrival of the Kyrgyz.

These carvings are between 1,900 and 2,800 years old. Many of the carvings depict animals such as wolves and deer, and include hunters that pursued them.

Mountain goat hunting scene. The large contour image of a goat is depicted in a particularly precise manner. The image occupies the major part of a stone surface. The frontal part of that image includes a small man with a bow pointed at a goat and a dog attacking the goat from behind.

Myself standing next to the mountain goat hunting scene.

[Show slideshow]

◄ 1 ... 3 4 5 ... 8 ►

© 2025 Jim Schroder