The Petroglyphs Museum in Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan
In Cholpon-Ata, on an area of 42 hectares, there is a popular open-air museum “Rock Garden”.
The museum presents prehistoric monuments. Among them are stone monuments, tombstones, boundary stone walls and petroglyphs dating from 2000 BC and IV century AD – IV century AD. Each stone has a plaque indicating the time of its manufacture and the purpose for which it was made. You can visit the Rock Garden along several routes indicated by arrows. The Museum of Cholpon-Ata Petroglyphs is a monument of rock carvings of various epochs and cultures, of which there are quite a lot in Kyrgyzstan.
The shortest route takes 20-30 minutes. There is also a longer route leading to the upper part of the museum, where you can carefully examine the collection of stone jade, study the inscriptions and cromlechs on the stones and admire the fascinating view of Cholpon-Ata Bay.
Petroglyphs are ancient rock carvings. The first appeared in this area more than 4000 years ago, the most recent belong to the 4th century AD. The stones were brought from the mountains by mudflows. The best time to visit this museum is in the early morning or late evening, when the outlines of the drawings are clearly visible and the sounds of morning or evening prayer are heard. Presumably, there used to be a temple on the territory of the museum, where ancient people prayed to the gods, especially the Sun god. The sizes of megaliths vary from 30 cm to 3 m.
Most of the drawings are made in the style of saka-skitai, they depict hunters and hunting scenes with tamed snow leopards. One of the paintings depicts a leopard hunting in motion. This is the only such image in Central Asia.
The fact that most megaliths face south-east and south-west, gives reason to associate their origin with religious rituals. It is assumed that the cromlech was used as an instrument for astronomical observations. The symbols of the sun are often statues of people (hunters) and animals, as well as chariots painted on stones. Deer statues are the most common among animal statues, and statues of mature deer are characteristic of Altai, Semirechye and Southern Siberia. It should be noted that one of the large tribes of Kyrgyzstan was called bugu (red deer). However, it is possible that the Kyrgyz moved to this region long before the appearance of this painting.
The spread of Islam, rock art was banned, and rock paintings gradually fell out of use. Nevertheless, many images captured in petroglyphs, such as horns, wings, paws, can still be found in the patterns of shaidak (Kyrgyz felt carpet) and other handicrafts.
Another collection of petroglyphs was discovered in the foothills of the Kungai Ala-Too mountain range, stretching along the northern shore of Lake Issyk-Kul on the border between Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.
The rock carvings are made and painted with the help of metal and stone tools. Over the centuries, under the scorching sun, the petroglyphs have discolored to a black-brown color. Conflicting opinions about the negative effects of chemicals on rock carvings have led to attempts to preserve them.
What to see near Cholpon Ata?
On the shores of Issyk-Kul: gorges, springs, petroglyphs
Petroglyphs of Cholpon-Ata is an open-air museum of rock art.
Rukh Ordo Museum is a park-museum on the lake shore. …
Ak-Bermet Hot Springs
Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve in Cholpon-Ata
Semenov Gorge
Grigorievskoe Gorge
Lake Verkhnee
Dead Lake
Nomads life Travel company in Kyrgyzstan is always happy to help and organize individual and group tours in Kyrgyzstan, as well as in Central Asia.
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