The Palace of the Republic (Almaty) is one of the most interesting and functional architectural structures of the southern capital of Kazakhstan. The building, built during the years of the Soviet period, still strikes with sophistication of style and originality of constructive solutions.
The Palace of the Republic is the largest concert venue in the city. There are also various government meetings, celebrations, forums, festivals.
Devoted to the centennial of the leader of the revolution
Since 1967, the Kazakh Republic, like the entire Soviet Union, began to prepare for the celebration of the anniversary of V.I. Lenin. In anticipation of this date, it was decided to reconstruct one of the longest streets of the city - the avenue bearing the name of the founder of the socialist state. At that time, there was a project developed by the architect A.P. Sokolov-Zeman, providing for the development of the slope of Mount Koktobe, on top of which it was supposed to build the building of the House of Soviets of Kazakhstan.
This ambitious plan required large material costs, since the construction had to take into account the high seismicity of the area. Therefore, in the end, they decided to get along with the beautification of the central part of the city of Alma-Ata (this was the name of present Almaty until 1991). In 1970, the Grand Opening of the Palace took place, which was named after the founder of the Soviet state.
Features of the design and decoration of the building
The Palace of the Republic (Almaty) was built according to a specially designed project using the latest building materials at that time. A roof area of 10,000 square meters. m hold eight reinforced concrete supports installed at some distance from the main structure. Thanks to this engineering solution, it appears that the roof does not have points of contact with the object, as if floating in the air.
The facade is decorated with shell rock, the interiors are lined with white marble. In the auditorium, designed for 3000 seats, panels made of valuable wood are installed, which allowed to ensure high acoustic characteristics of the room. In order to provide cooling of the walls and coolness in the internal halls, the Palace of the Republic (Almaty) was equipped with a unique air-conditioning system, which was supplied with ice water from the Malaya Almatinka river originating in the Alatau mountains.
The project, designed by architects L. Ukhobotov, V. Kim, Yu. Ratushny, N. Ripinsky, V. Alla with the participation of engineers A. Sokolov and B. Delov, was awarded the All-Union State Prize in 1971.
From plenums and meetings to enchanting shows
The spacious hall of the building was used for various events of city and republican significance: party plenums, solemn celebrations of heroes of labor, meetings of trade union and public organizations. At the same time, the Palace of the Republic (Almaty) has been a popular stage for almost fifty years.
In different years, under his arches voices of masters of opera and pop stars sounded. The Almaty audience enthusiastically hosted such outstanding artists as Alibek Dnishev, Rosa Rymbaeva, Nagima Eskalieva, Joseph Kobzon, Valentina Tolkunova, Alla Pugacheva and many others. And today the poster of the Palace of the Republic in Almaty pleases with announcements of performances by artists from around the world.
On the square adjacent to the building, bearing the name of the Kazakh poet and thinker Abay Kunanbaev, parades of brass bands are held, an annual New Year tree is established, music festivals, public festivities in honor of the Nauryz national holiday are held.
Modern look update
During the reconstruction carried out in 2010–2011. the appearance of the Palace and its interior decoration changed. The facade covered with glass panels significantly expanded the area used for the installation of billboards, and the auditorium lost 433 seats. But then there appeared an orchestra pit, a conference room, a recording studio that meets all modern standards buffet, as well as convenient facilities for staff.
The Palace of the Republic (Almaty) is among the other remarkable objects of the republic in the register of monuments of urban planning and architecture. The address of the building is Dostyk Avenue 56. The quarter below is one of the tallest buildings in the city, the twenty-five-story Kazakhstan Hotel, and just above the Palace is the Arman Cinema, where already in the seventies of the last century they showed stereo films created using the technology called today 3D
Former Alma-Ata was one of the most beautiful and advanced cities of the Soviet Union. Present Almaty, even having lost the capital status, is not going to hand over the won positions.