Kazakhstan has a city whose history began back in 1879, when the first settlers appeared on the banks of the Tobol River . They came here from various provinces.
origin of name
The formed village occupied 13.5 thousand acres of land and was named Nikolaevsky. But in 1885, having become a county town of the Turgai province, it was renamed Kostanay. From the Kazakh language, this word was translated as "parking of the Kazakh tribe." It was formed from two components: "braid" - a yurt, and "Tanay" - a Kazakh tribe. In 1884, a church, court, school and other public buildings were built on its territory. By 1913, the city of Kostanay was replenished with new residents. Its population reached 28,300 people, whose main activity was agriculture.
Further development
This was possible due to its location on fertile chernozem lands. Widely developed trade. The city of Kostanay served as a commercial platform for such goods as salt, fish, leather, wool, grain, furs, flour, meat, beer and other agricultural products. In order to expand the delivery of products to other regions of Russia, a railway was built in 1913.
Industry in the city began to develop only after several enterprises producing shoes, artificial fiber, and clothes were evacuated to its territory during the Patriotic War. In order to ensure their work, as well as the comfort of the workers, they began to lay engineering networks, equip the city, and green the streets.
Age of Prosperity
In the postwar years, the city of Kostanay continued its development. Virgin lands were developed on which people were engaged in mining: bauxite, asbestos, ores. Today, the development of the city continues. Its population is about 240,000 people. More recently, an international airport was built.
Schools of the city of Kostanay are comprehensive. There are 51 of them in total. But there is also a kindergarten and an art school named after A. I. Nikiforov. In addition to industrial enterprises, two higher educational institutions, a philharmonic society, libraries, cultural palaces, theaters, and a museum are located on the territory of the settlement. The city of Kostanay can be called the cultural center of the eponymous region.
Memory of centuries
The main streets of the city of Kostanay, and at first there were only ten of them, were witnesses of the events that took place here throughout its existence. Most often, street names reflect the historical past, the names of the heroes. And at the end of the 19th century they were called here according to the name of the provinces, where the settlers arrived from: Tomsk, Penza, Tashkent, Samara, Troitskaya, Orenburg and others.
The main street was Bolshaya. She ran from the Tobol River to the railway station. It housed the houses of wealthy merchants - Yaushev, Kargin - as well as grocery stores and shopping malls. Soviet power gave this street a new name - Proletarian. Two years later, she began to be called Soviet. And after two more - by Lenin Street. But more than once she had to go through the renaming. In 1975, it became Leninsky Prospekt, and in 2000 - Al-Farabi Avenue.
In general, many streets in the city with the advent of Soviet power began to be called differently. And this is not surprising. Tsarskaya became the street of Leo Tolstoy, Barabashevskaya was renamed in honor of Lawrence Taran. But this happened in many cities at that time. The main thing is that the renaming does not affect what was located on these streets. And in Kostanay, you can see many interesting buildings and monuments on them.
Cultural sites
The city center of Kostanay is interesting in that there is a regional museum of local lore. It was discovered back in 1915. Only here you can get complete information about the region. The exposition consists of 112 thousand exhibits. In the museum you can find out what was on the local land in ancient times, how rich the Kostanay region is today, how the World War II affected the city and many other significant facts.
But not only this is interesting for the city of Kostanay. House 85-A on Gogol Street is a toy museum. There are 5,000 exhibits in it. Until now, everyone can replenish the museum's exposition. And the toys here are very different. These are dolls and soldiers, cars and weapons, cheburashki, pistols and many other children's entertainment. All exhibits are unique. There is even a female Egyptian figurine, which was made in the II millennium BC.
Where to go?
No wonder Kostanay is considered the cultural capital of Kazakhstan. Here is the regional drama theater. Omarov, who often takes part in republican festivals. He presents to the public both adult and children's performances. The studio is based on it. Russian Drama Theater is also a must visit. It was founded back in 1922. Now it is combined with a puppet theater. The performances of his actors were awarded prestigious awards even at international festivals. Well, do not forget to look into the Philharmonic. The first place of its location was the building of the regional drama theater. Now here you can hear musicians working in various directions. Moreover, music is played not only by Kazakh.
Interesting and modern monuments of the city. For example, a monument to Charlie Chaplin. The famous actor is depicted in full growth with a bowler hat and cane. It is located near the building of the Kazakh-French cultural center. The sculpture of a girl with a laptop, made of bronze, also attracts tourists. This is a monument reflecting modern reality. Many want to take pictures next to him.
The city of Kostanay is a thriving cultural, scientific and industrial center of Kazakhstan. If you want to see how a small settlement developed on the banks of the Tobol River in a relatively short period of time, be sure to come here.