Friday Rebecca and I went to the Historical Museum near the center of Bishkek. It's rather dated, but overall I thought it was wonderful and thoroughly enjoyed it!
Well worth seeing if you are Bishkek. We were told to start at the third floor, to progress chronologically through the museum. While there were no signs (that I could read) saying no pictures, I'm not entirely sure I was supposed to take pictures, so please excuse the bad phone pictures of everything. The inside of the museum itself was a lovely work of art. The rock was quite neat with the whole entry area done in megacryst K-spar rich granite. The stairs were in marble and there was lots of other granite varietals throughout. At the top of the third floor was a whole yurt assembled with the inside laid out as it would be for a traditional family. The rugs (which have a special name that unfortunately I do not remember) are stacked to one side. On either side of the yurt were fake horses decked out in traditional garb and tack. The one on the left is in more everyday equipment, while the one on the right had marvelously ornate saddle blankets and packs. We then walked through the early archaeology section of the museum.
There was one small case with mammoth fossils! There was also a very terrible “evolutionary” diagram that was dated and uncomfortably heavy on some racial prejudices... Beyond that there were many many artifacts. Kyrgyzstan has some of the oldest and most petroglyphs of anywhere in the world and there were many examples of this beautiful early art. Additionally there was early pottery, and bronze age artifacts. There were some lovely diagrams of tomb structures and how they changed through time and cultures as well. In the next section there were example of traditional handworks like the wonderful felted rugs, woven trims, and so much more. I love the colors and patterns.
There was an exhibit on Manas, the national hero and legend. He's the hero of a hugely long epic poem, and united 40 tribes to form the Kyrgyz people.
The second floor had an account of the impacts from WWII as well as the overall Soviet era. We had to leave to meet Kyle for lunch before finishing this section and have decided to go back for sure.