1533, 1848 KAZAKHSTAN - Petroglyphs within the Archaeological Landscape of Tamgaly (UNESCO WHS)

1533 Petroglyphs of Tamgaly (1)

Posted on 22.04.2015, 24.08.2015
Set around the lush Tamgaly Gorge, amidst the vast, arid Chu-Ili mountains, Tamgaly (which in Kazakh means "painted or marked place") is a remarkable concentration of some 5,000 petroglyphs dating from the second half of the second millennium BC to the beginning of the 20th century. The majority are in the main canyon, but there are a number in the many side canyons, distributed among 48 complexes with associated settlements and burial grounds. They are testimonies to the husbandry, social organization and rituals of pastoral peoples. A huge number of ancient tombs are also to be found including stone enclosures with boxes and cists (middle and late Bronze Age), and mounds (kurgans) of stone and earth (early Iron Age to the present).

1848 Petroglyphs of Tamgaly (2)

The delineation of the property into a sacred core and outer residential periphery, combined with sacred images of sun-heads, altars, and enclosed cult areas, provide a unique assembly. Petroglyphs on unsheltered rock faces, which have been formed using a picketing technique with stone or metal tools, are the most abundant monuments on the property. By far the most exceptional engravings come from the earliest period and are characterized by large figures deeply cut in a sharp way with a wide repertoires of images including unique forms such as solar deities, zoomorphic beings dressed in furs, syncretic subjects, disguised people, and a wide range of animals.

1140 KAZAKHSTAN - Mosque Khazret Sultan in Astana

In 1997, Nursultan Nazarbayev, the Kazakhstan's leader since 1989, but found in the circles of power long before the separation of the country from Soviet Union, moved the capital from Almaty in the southeast, in the north, to the steppe town of Akmola, to which changed also the name in Astana. On 6 july 2012, to commemorate the 14th anniversary of this event, was opened in the city the biggest mosque not only in Kazakhstan, but even in the whole Central Asia. Kazakhstan is the largest economy in Central Asia, and is predominantly Muslim (followers of the Hanafi school of Sunni Islam), so nothing strange this far, but was it a coincidence that July 6th was also Nazarbaev's 72nd birthday? The mosque, called Khazret Sultan, is big enough to take 5,000 worshippers and stands on a 27 acre site, roughly the size of 18 football pitches. Each of its domes is fitted with Barrisol sheets, printed with oriental patterns. The biggest dome is 28m wide and 51 m high, and the four minarets have 77m hight.