Cities of Kyrgyzstan
Bishkek city
Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, is situated at 74°35' east and 42°50' north, rises 800 meters above sea level in the Chui Valley and lies north of the Kyrgyz Mountain Range. 20 kilometers north of the city is the Chui River, forming part of the border with Kazakhstan republics. Two rivers run through Bishkek, Ala- Archa in the west part of the city, and Alamedin in the east
The city also boasts fairly good air quality (undoubtedly enhanced by idle factories) although one's ability to breathe is threatened these days by aging vehicles and a growing population of cars.
The central part of Bishkek is laid out in a grid pattern, with Ala-Too Square almost in the center, and the White House a few meters away. Under the watchful eye of transportation militia, traffic slows to a crawl from the part of Chui Prospect from Ala-Too Square to the White House.
Thanks to enlightened Russian and Soviet civic planners, Bishkek was and remains one of the greenest of the capitals of the former USSR. Over 20 parks with more than 150 species of trees dot the city, their colorful flora transforming them in the warm seasons into meccas of urban activity.
Aside from being the capital of the country and an autonomous administrative district, Bishkek is the economic and cultural center of Kyrgyzstan. Its status is confirmed by the presence of international organizations, banks factories, trading companies, hotels, department store, universities, theaters, museums, galleries, and embassies consulates within the city.
April, 9 1954 beginning o' works for installing lights the streets. During first car paign lights were installed 36 kilometers of roads. Fi street with light on both were Lenina (now Jibek Jol) and Pionerskaya (now Moskovskaya).
One of the busiest and most interesting intersections for traffic and people is the corner of Moskovskaya and Sovietskaya, commonly abbreviated to Mossoviet.
The West and East Bus Stations lie at their respective ends on Jibek Joly (Silk Road in Kyrgyz). The next street is Tashkent, the old road to the eponymous capital of Uzbekistan. Bishkek II Train Station is at the southern end of Erkindik Prospect.
Two places where you can have a good view the setting surrounding Bishkek is from the top of Ferris wheels, one in Panfilov Park, the other in Ata-Turk (formerly Drujba) Park.
Central Bishkek is compact. At a leisurely pace, you can walk from Osh Bazaar in the west of town to Alamedin Bazaar in the east in about one hour.
Bishkek history
Although Bishkek is a young city, artifacts unearthed nearby dating back to about 7000 years testify to ancient human settlement. From the VIII to XIII century, a city identified as Jul flourished whose residents were a peaceful hodgepodge of religionists: Buddhists, Nestorians, Manichaeists, and Zoroastrianists.
From the V to X century, the nomadic Kyrgyz arrived from Siberia and the entire area became a sleepy settlement populated by farmers, traders and passing nomads. In the 13 th century, Mongol invaders destroyed Jul. The Kyrgyz, who had adapted to a sedentary lifestyle, dispersed to the mountains and reverted to their nomadic ways.
Two international visitors of note visited Jul in the XII century. The first was Friar Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, who passed the settlement in 1246 on his way from Italy to China. The second was the Chinese Buddhist Pilgrim Chang-Te, who stopped in Jul in 1253 on his way west and who recorded in his journal the high level of civilization in the Chui Valley.
Eager to secure defenses for its outposts that made up part of the lucrative Silk Road, the Madali Khan of the Kokhand Khanate had Pishpek Fortress built in 1825 as one in a series of outposts from Tashkent (Uzbekistan) to Kashgar (China).
The Russian Empire eventually intruded upon the Khanate. After various incur- s, ons, Pishpek Fortress was effectively razed in 1864. Thereafter, the Russian army a dministered Pishpek. Russian peasants immigrated to the Chui Valley, enjoying land grants and tax breaks. Even with an energetic populace and an injection of funds, Pishpek remained a backwater ruled from the district capital of Tokmok.
The city received a new lease on life after floods inundated Tokmok in 1877 and the district administration moved to Pishpek. Soon Pishpek grew in surges of civic planning.
Pishpek saw its share of turmoil during the Soviet Revolution and remained hotbed of insurgency, grass roots rebellion against the Bolsheviks and the ruling class, and civil war. During one of these crises, Mikhail Frunze, an ethnic Moldovian born in Pishpek, successfully battled basmachys, (local rebels) and kept the area under Bolshevik rule. In 1926, a year after his death, Pishpek was renamed Frunze in honor of his deeds. Only in 1991 was the city renamed Bishkek.
During Soviet times, Bishkek enjoyed and suffered five-year plans, Stalin's purges, the effects of two world wars, civic expansion and socialist coddling. Having endured the traumatic times, Bishkek residents, like their counterparts elsewhere in the USSR, entered the 1970's flushed with the glow of economic and social well- being (however equivocal the interpretation of the indubitably manipulated indicators).
For many Soviet citizens the 1970's and early 1980's are nostalgically recalled as the Golden Years of Stagnation, when shelves were relatively well stocked, prices low, jobs guaranteed, pensions were paid on time, domestic stability was assured and military might unchallenged.
Like the rest of the country since independence in 1991, Bishkek has seen its of joy and woe although it has experienced less suffering because of its status as the political, economic, artistic and social center of Kyrgyzstan. International money has enriched its coffer, foreign investors have set up shop, politics and the press have been liberalized, construction has increased, spiffy shops have sprung up and people have dressed smarter and trendier.
Genuine economic and political progress has been achieved although many citizens that improvements have been neither as smooth nor as quick as they would have been promised.
Despite its achievements, Bishkek, like other towns and villages in Kyrgyzstan suffers from economic hardships, utilities disruptions, unresponsive governance, ethnic unease, and secular and religious tension.
It is also experiencing a widening gap between rich and poor, urban blight, demographic pressure from newly arrived rural settlers, growing unemployment and social malaise.
What happens to Bishkek and how it confronts the various challenges facing it will indicate how the rest of the country will fare. Whether just arriving in Bishkek to explore more of Kyrgyzstan or soon departing from the city to other ports of call, you can anticipate or reflect upon the myriad concerns confronting the citizens of Kyrgyzstan, as well as those facing the residents of what was once the Soviet Empire.
Bishkek the origin of the name
When flying to Bishkek, you may notice that the luggage tag on your baggage has the initials FRU, short for Frunze, the previous name of Bishkek. Bishkek's history and its attendant name changes leave many people, not just international airline carriers, confused about the name of Bishkek.
On 1 February 1991, by decree of the Kirgiz Supreme Soviet, the name of the city 0 f Frunze was changed to Bishkek. (Political observers should take note that the name change came several months before the failed coup in Moscow and before Kyrgyzstan's declaration of independence, both in 1991.) From 1926 to 1991, the city was called Frunze, in honor of the revolutionary general and political figure Michail Vasilievich Frunze.
Prior to being christened Frunze, the city was called Pishpek, the name of the original fortress that the Uzbek Kokhand Khanate had built in 1825 as one of several outposts to guard the Silk Road caravans.
Even before Pishpek, the settlement had been known as Jul, which prospered from the 8 th to 13 th century before the Mongol invaders razed the settlement.
The city's history offers no clue as to the origin of Bishkek. So where, then, does it come from? There are various folk etymologies purporting to elucidate the ur-word of bishkek. One tells of five chiefs fighting over the territory The word for five in Kyrgyz is besh and the word for strong man is bek; hence, beshbek, or five strong men.
Another candidate for the name of the capital is the Kyrgyz word, bishkek, a wooden utensil that Kyrgyz women use to churn kimis, or mare's milk, which is considered the national drink.
One other hypothesis is that Bishkek is derived from the Persian word, pishgakh, which means place below the mountains. A look at the location of Bishkek - tucked between high mountain ranges - gives credence to this suggestion.
There is no agreement on which explanation is correct. Perhaps it is better to accept the word as just a name and take all the hypotheses as subtle imaginings.
“Bishkek guide”. Published by “The times of Central Asia' 2000.
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The area Ala-Too, the former area
Lenin
Russian orthodox church. It is
constructed in 1945
A guard of honour
An old building of the city of Bishkek
A memorial opposite to hotel Dostyk
A kind from Bishkek on mountains of
the Kirghiz Ala Tau
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