Museum of Almaty

The Museum of Almaty is a city history museum on Kabanbay Batyr Street in central Almaty, Kazakhstan. It focuses on the urban story of the city rather than the national narrative, tracing settlement in the Zhetysu region and the transformation of a small Russian garrison into a major Central Asian capital. The chronology starts in the pre-Russian period, with archaeological finds and the legacy of Silk Road trade routes in the foothills of the Trans-Ili Alatau, and moves to the founding of the fortress of Zailiyskoye in 1854, renamed Verny in 1855. Exhibits then explore the 1887 earthquake and the far more destructive 1911 earthquake, the rebuilding of the town with timber and low-rise architecture such as Zenkov Cathedral, and the arrival of the Turksib railway in the late 1920s. The Soviet period receives substantial coverage, including the period when Alma-Ata served as the capital of the Kazakh SSR, evacuated industries and film studios in the Second World War, and the post-war growth of the city. Later galleries cover independence in 1991, the move of the capital to Astana in 1997, and Almaty's ongoing role as the country's commercial and cultural centre. The display method is mainly thematic and chronological, using historic photographs, maps, scale models, documents, household objects, costumes and, in places, multimedia screens. Because it concerns the city, many visitors use it to understand the street layout, the grid plan and the Soviet-era monuments seen elsewhere. The exhibition is largely labelled in Kazakh and Russian, and some English captions may be available. The building is in the city centre, close to restaurants and public transport, so a visit fits easily into a walking tour of central Almaty. Entry costs about KZT 1,500 and the museum is open Tuesday to Sunday.