Anyone that has heard of the Soviet Union likely also heard about Gulags. They are the bread and butter of all anti-communist/Soviet propaganda for many generations now, and frankly, they deserve their notoriety as one of the worst parts of the whole Soviet experiment… These were extremely scary penal colonies (of sorts) that contained the “undesirables” of the Soviet society. Some of these were labour camps, which later turned into sprawling communities and even cities. In a manner of speaking, Karaganda was one of those places that was built around this extensive system of punitive colonies/prisons where people from all over the Soviet Union were shipped to work, sometimes to their death. This incredible history, combined with its obscure location makes Karaganda one of the top spots to visit in this country, which is why I decided to see it during my very first weekend getaway in Kazakhstan. Join me, as I go on to explain why you too should visit Karaganda using a plethora of photos. After all, show and not tell!
Allegedly, the biggest granite statue of Lenin is found in Karaganda, though that is not hard to believe given the city’s history of being a town that thrived thanks to its mining industry. This particular piece had a more central location a few years ago, but some protests ended up making it move here to the outskirts of the city, where I stayed. Though it has seen better days, it was nice to see that it stood still to this day. Not many do.
Not only did Lenin himself stand still, but there is also a theatre/cinema named after him which too is a remnant from the Soviet period, just behind the statue. This used to be here in this very spot for a longer period of time and may be the reason why the statue was later moved here as well.
If one Soviet legend was not enough, you can enjoy at least two of them in Karaganda since a statue of Yuri Gagarin is not so far away from Lenin’s one as well. It was super cool to see him in an actual space suit rather than some random formal wear, and that spire to the right actually goes quite high and ends with a star on its tip. Certainly, well worth a visit.
Statues, mosaics, and memorials are found all around the streets of Karaganda, a more famous of which is located near its dead center. Given the importance of mining and thus miners to this town, you can enjoy this Miners’ Glory Monument in all its, well, glory!
Of course, though a statue or two cannot hurt, my eyes were hunting for some Soviet mosaics all this time. Thankfully, Karaganda was about to spoil me. This magnificent piece is merely a few hundred meters away from the aforementioned statue, and being situated on the same main road, you can really see just how much the locals of Karaganda embraced their Soviet past, rather than denouncing and then destroying it. These pieces of art are literally a few meters away from the police HQ and the governor’s office, but they stand untouched after well over 30 years. This is not something I could say for most Soviet-era heritage of Georgia, to name an example…
To the left of the previous mosaic one can found yet another one. You can already see a theme here, the one that revolves around mining. Authorities, in an effort to show that everything really is about mining in this town, even put a piece of mined rock in front of this mosaic, perhaps to make sure that everyone gets it.
As is usual in any post-Soviet city, Karaganda is home to a Victory Park as well, two of them in fact. The central one has the eternal flame up and running and this magnificent relief behind. There are also a few pieces of military equipment scattered around. The other one near the cathedral was frankly quite boring, despite being bigger. It just did not live up to my expectations.
Speaking of the cathedral, the Cathedral of Our Lady of Fatima is the biggest Catholic cathedral in Central Asia and thanks to its architecture its allure matches its size.
Unfortunately, the inner gates were closed off to visitors at the time of my visit, therefore I was stuck taking a boring photo like this. I did hope to see its interior more up close, alas, it was not the right time.
There is a rather sizable park in the middle of the city, with the unimaginative name of Central Park of Karaganda. It is a lovely place to walk at night and during daytime, both of which I tried and enjoyed very much. The artificial lakes there are teeming with life, and you can even see people succeeding at catching a fish or two.
In that same park, one can also find the Hogwarts Express! Well, the Soviet Union had a plethora of “Children’s Railroads” that would take kids on a short journey around a specifically designed track. The local Kazakh authorities transformed that amenity into something more relatable to children today, which is genius if you ask me.
There are a few other bits and pieces from the Harry Potter universe that lay scattered around. For example, this is the Flying Ford Anglia that Harry and Ron used to get to Hogwarts that one time they missed the Hogwarts Express. It is the small things that count, and in a child’s mind, I am pretty sure that these things all come to life more vividly than we can ever hope to imagine…
The Central Park keeps on giving, as other than a lot of amenities for children and adults, as well a lot of eateries and a rather old and frankly sketchy looking amusement park, there are a few three-dimensional mosaics from the Soviet era here as well, much like the ones in Kobuleti. This is a much welcome rarity, and I wish these pieces of art were more common all around.
To my surprise (my Kazakh friends did not have the best of things to say about Karaganda), it turned out that almost every single street had something to offer in Karaganda, and I mean it. I found this gem on my way back to the hostel by pure accident, and what a wonderful accident that was!
I went to Karaganda using the train and decided to take one back as well. That turned out to be a mistake when three kids rushed into my little compartment… One of them even had a container with four pet snails that he would bring out to pet every few minutes. Suffice to say, the way back home was quite something, but at the very least, I cannot complain by saying that it was unremarkable…
All in all, my first weekend getaway in my new home was a success in every sense of the word, though I must say that I left out one particular highlight of it outside of the scope of this article. Come back next week when I will write about what is supposed to be one of the best museums in all of Kazakhstan, where you can find out a lot about the Gulag system and more, the KarLag Museum in nearby Dolinka!