Kyzyl

Kyzyl is the capital of Tuva Republic,located in the very heart of Asia, on the bank of the Yenissey river where two smaller rivers – Kaa-Khem and Piy-Khem form  Yenisei.

Must see places of Kyzyl

“The Center of Asia” sculpture complex

This gorgeous architectural ensemble is situated in the place where Kaa-Khem and Piy-Khem rivers join together and form Yenissey. The complex was built by Dashy Namdakov, a world famous sculptor from Buriatia. The new sculpteure complex, inspired by the Scithian motives from the burial mound “Arzhaan-2” represent mythical lion-like animals holding a globe topped with a steeple.  The decorations on the steeple depict symbolic animals interwoven in ascension to the sky. On the very top of the steeple is a «solar deer»б, a copy of a golden hairpin of the Scythian Queen from Arzhaan-2 burial mound. They are surrounded by 12 figures of cosmogonic and animistic images making up the Buddhist horoscope.

The National Museum named after Aldan Maadyr (60 warriors) has a rich collection of archaeological finds. The new building of the museum was built in 2008 and now it is one of the most beautiful and attractive sightseeing of Kyzyl. The highlights of all the exhibitions is the “Scythian Gold’s” one, representing sensational archaeological golden findings from ancient Burialmound “Arzhaan-2”. This unique collection was exhibited in Germany, in Berlin, Munich and Hamburg in 2007-2008.

The Museum of Political Repression. The museum is housed in a historic building used as an office of the NKVD (the Soviet secret police) in 1930. Here you can find unique photographs, documents, newspaper articles, biographies, lists of the repressed in Tuva in 1930s-1960s.

Buddhist temple “Tsechenling” is located not far from the ”Center of Asia” sculpture complex.

The temple was built in 2000, it is a place widely visited by the local population. The residence of Kamby lama (Supreme Monk) is also situated in ”Tsechenling”. The temple was built following the Tibetan Buddhist architecture standards and it is indeed, one of the decorations of the city.

Tuvan National theatre

The theatre was built in 1977 by a soviet architect. Tuvan theatre’s history begins in the 30th of the 20th century, when the first shows plays were put on. Today the theatre is the main cultural place where people get in touch with shows, performances are played in different genres.

Tuvan Traditional culture and crafts center

The Tuvan traditional culture center was built in the place of the old Tuvan National Museum’s building and represents its reconstruction. The great tuvan xoomeizhi, world famous from Genghis Blues movie, Kongar-ool Ondar, who was the teacher of many great contemporary tuvan xoomeizhy, had an idea to unit all tuvan folk groups, crafts, Tuvan National orchestra and many others in one place. So, the center is one of his contributions in order to develop and preserve Tuvan traditional culture for the next generations. Today the center work can be highly estimated and some of the main International xoomei events take place in this center.

 Arat’s square

Arat’s square is the main square in the center of Kyzyl. It is located in front of the Tuvan National theatre and the Tuvan Parliaments’ building. It is the venue of the most significant and great events and festivals. The beautiful fountain complex with its stone figures made following the motives of tuvan stone carving style and a Buddhist wheel fit harmoniously in the whole architecture of the square.

Shamanic centers

There are about 3 shamanic centers in Kyzyl, where the shamans work officially accepting visitors every day. Local people widely visit shamans with different question: asking for some spiritual purification with the drum and juniper to making predictions with special 49 magic shamanic stones, called “huvaanak”. The shamanism is also preserved in its original form in Tuva, local people still pray to the spirits of the nature, to the sky, to the stars and to the  Universe.