Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
One of the stories says that the city Bishkek was named after the wooden plunger, a container that the Kyrgyz people use to make kumiss, a popular Kyrgyz fermented milk drink made from mare's milk. However, according to another version, the name comes from the words “besh kek”, which literally translates as “five rulers”, or even “besh bik”, which means “five peaks”. The name Bishkek may have an even more ancient etymology, from the word “pishagak” - an ancient Sogdian term that translates as “place beyond the mountains”.
One way or another, today Bishkek is the largest city Kyrgyzstan, as well as the modern cultural, political and economic center of the republic. This is a calm city with wide streets and beautiful houses with its own distinctive, measured rhythm of life. Arriving in Bishkek, the first thing that attracts attention is that the city is literally buried in greenery. A huge number of parks makes the air unusually fresh and clean. It is generally accepted that there are more trees per inhabitant here than in any other city in Central Asia.
Geographical location
The city is located in the very center of the Chui Valley, at the foot of the snow-white mountains of the Kyrgyz Ala-Too, at an altitude of 750 m above sea level. The area of the territory is 160 square meters. km.
Bishkek Climate
The climate in Bishkek is sharply continental, with an average annual temperature of 10.2 °C. The coldest month is January (-24.7 °C), the warmest is July (34.5 °C).
Demography
The population as of 2009 is 1022 thousand inhabitants. During the period of the Soviet Union, the percentage of the Russian-speaking population in the city prevailed, but with the collapse of the USSR, the Kyrgyz make up more than half of the city's population, however, the proportion of various ethno-linguistic minorities is still quite high. According to the 1999 census, 52.1% of the population are Kyrgyz, 33.2% are Russians, 2.1% are Ukrainians, 2.1% are Tatars, 1.7% are Koreans, 1.7% are Uzbeks, 1.7% are Uighurs, 1.6% are Kazakhs, 0.7% - Germans , 0.5% - Dungans, 0.4% - Turks, 0.4% - Azerbaijanis. The Russian language acts as a means of interethnic communication; as a native language, in addition to the Kyrgyz language, many others are also widespread.
Architecture of Bishkek
The main and favorite place for leisure and walking for local residents and tourists of the capital is the center of Bishkek. Most of the museums, galleries, shops, parks, public gardens, squares, restaurants, cafes, and parks are concentrated here. You can see monuments to great people of the era and monuments marking historical milestones and events. Among them are sculptural monuments to the fighters for Soviet power in Kyrgyzstan and the Eternal Flame to the heroes who fell in the Great Patriotic War. The seventies enriched the capital with monuments: Togolok Moldo, installed in the center of the square between Moskovskaya and Bokonbaev streets (1963, sculptor O. Manuilova), a monument to T. Satylganov near the Opera and Ballet Theater (1974, artist G. Aitiev, architect A. Isaev) , monument to M.V. Frunze, built on the square of the railway station (1970), still adorn the city thanks to its successful placement.
History of Bishkek
The appearance of man on the territory of the modern city dates back to ancient times. Finds of stone tools indicate that primitive people lived in the vicinity of Bishkek in 5-4 thousand BC. e.
Internet resources for Bishkek and Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan — Guide to Kyrgyzstan.
Issyk Kul — Rest in Issyk Kul, booking sanatoriums and boarding houses