Almaty is a very well urbanized city. Its metro acts as its spine and connects its two faraway sides together, its grid layout enables you to not get lost easily as you walk around town, and its tree lined pavements turn every simple walk into an enjoyable urban adventure. In this article, I will first go over some of the fascinating architectural landmarks you can enjoy in the city, and then go on to write about a few decent museums Almaty hosts at the time of this writing.
A Concrete Jungle
The mayor’s office, with its domineering presence in the middle of the city is an excellent example of what Almaty keeps for its visitors that are interested in its multifaceted architectural landscape. Concrete, and a lot of it, used in most interesting ways is found all around town. This one is a bit straightforward, utilitarian per se, but still awe-inspiring when you stand so close to it.
If you turn your back to it though, you will be greeted with these lovely monstrosities. I say “these” because there are two of these side by side. Collectively they seem to function like a gateway to the city centre, or at least its more administrative core. I could not find a name for them, but they sure are a unique part of Almaty’s urban forest that is well worth a visit.
If you ask, most locals will likely name Arbat (or Zhybek Zholy) as the main pedestrian street of Almaty, and they have every right to say so. It is a very decent place to relax, sip proper coffee, enjoy good food, and do some people watching. What attracted me to it was none of those though but this unique concrete contraption. Though I did a grave mistake by forgetting to foray into its vicinity so as to see it more up close, these dual towers are etched into my memory and will remain there forever. There is just something so enjoyable about seeing concrete that is used in making anything other than some rectangular buildings with no character.
For a quirkier building, sadly you have to travel quite afar from the city centre and go near the Sairan reservoir. I walked there and back, and had no issues with it, but a local friend of mine later called me “very brave” for going to “those parts.” Take that with a pinch of salt, as in all honesty the most dangerous thing I saw on my way there was myself as I was about to hit a little boy that I could not see in my rush back home. Admittedly, it is a rougher part of the town with some beggars and a few sketchy looking open-air markets, but in all honesty, things seemed fine to me. And most importantly, it was all worth it to see this magnificent beauty! I was also told that just a few months ago this would have had its original colouring, making it look a bit gloomier, but I would say that its more Kazakh blue new coat of paint fits it quite well too. All the quirky bits and pieces, curves and lines, it is hard to tell just how happy seeing all of this makes me feel…
This unique place is the Children’s Republican Palace, that was used to be used by Soviet pioneers. Nowadays it still serves children, but in different ways. I did not go in, and honestly seeing its golden dome and what appeared to be a tower out of which one can do some sort of bungee jumping from was more than enough for me. No need to go in and get even more jealous of children…
Perhaps the most renowned landmark in Almaty is this one, Hotel Kazakhstan. It is an incredible Soviet hotel, built in 1977, and overlooks the city ever so gracefully to this date. Locals had only bad things to say about its interior and how the new management is ruining the good reputation of this fine establishment, but for an outsider like me, who already hates hotels and is thus only interested in how this place looks from the outside, all was fine. I feel like I may have wasted an opportunity to sip some beer atop this place, but in all honesty given my bad luck with weather in this trip (as it soured and got cloudy whenever I had an opportunity to take a decent photo of the city), it likely would have been for nothing.
Frankly, there is not much to speak about when it comes to religious architecture, so much so that I may even consider Almaty to be one of the most “atheist” cities that I visited so far. This is a joke, of course, not only because a city cannot have any faith, but also because there are enough little mosques and churches to serve a decently sized community of both religions. There is even a small Jewish community with their own synagogue. What I mean is that none of these buildings catch one’s eye, at least none of the Islamic ones like this Central Mosque.
Thankfully, Christians have it a bit better with a gorgeous little church like this one, lovely Zenkov’s Cathedral. Inside and out, it is an incredibly colourful structure, with some wonderful chanting going on in the inside where I was sadly not allowed to take any photos. There were a lot of churchgoers, and a wonderful choir, so I was lucky to be there at the right time, but I do wish I could have had some photos to enjoy later.
Museums of Almaty
Almaty is not an enormous city by any means, so it does not boast a massive number of museums. Furthermore, some of its museums were closed for renovation by the time I was there, joys of travelling off-season I suppose… This is not to say that I did not have a good time visiting some proper ones though, as you will see just below.
The best museum in town for me was the Kasteev State Art Museum with its incredible collection of local and Soviet pieces of art, modern and not so modern alike. It has a decent design, full translations for most pieces on display, some rooms with rotating content, wonderful paintings, and some of the nicest babushkas in town that work tirelessly. It was sad that I was not allowed past a certain point, saying something about cleaning that section until some time, but it was okay as for a rather small fee I had my fill of art for a few weeks to come. Certainly recommended!
Perhaps one of the most unique museums you can find in Almaty, or anywhere else in the world for that matter, is this one dedicated to musical instruments. You can see a ton of ancient, old, and new musical instruments, both local and international, as you listen to Kazakh folk songs on the background. There is even a rock with depictions of ancient shamans playing a flute of sorts that dates back to many millennia before Christ if my memory serves me well. Everything is labelled in English too but given its much higher price compared to others on this list, that much is to be expected as the bare minimum. It is a small museum so I am sure you can make some time to see it.
The Central State Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan did not surprise me much, not because it was bad, but because I knew exactly what would have been included in its four exhibitions, and what would have been left out. One can find out a lot about the ancient, medieval, pre-colonial, and post-USSR era history and culture of the region here quite well, with the jarring gap that is the Soviet period being neglected ever so openly. This is something I am getting used to as it was the case in Georgia as well, but still, it remains problematic for me in many regards. Luckily, there were a few bits and pieces scattered around, such as this lovely rug with a Lenin statue vaguely seen in the distance in its dead center. Nevertheless, you more than get your money’s worth here, so it is well worth a visit in my book.
My trip to Almaty had many highs and a few lows, but perhaps one of the most unexpected highs was this visit of mine to the local Military History Museum of the Ministry of Defence of Kazakhstan, a mouthful, I know. It is literally inside a military office of sorts, where I had a “great” time trying to find the least serious looking soldier to ask him to please get me into this museum behind a locked door on the second floor. He helped me call the guy in charge, who came and guided me in English for a while, all for free. Halfway into the tour, he had to leave, and an old Kazakh gentleman replaced him, who shared with me all the details of every single exhibited piece here, in Russian… It was certainly not easy to follow him thoroughly, but I was surprised at how well I understood a decent amount of things. I tried my best to ask a few questions, and make small banter to the best of my abilities as well. He was so happy to see a Turk visiting, saying that it was such a rarity. We parted ways just shy of a hug, and merrily went on with the rest of our day. If you do visit Almaty, fear not and try to get into this museum for sure. It does look a bit intimidating to get in at first, but you will soon see that the people in there are quite welcoming.