Archaeological Park opened in Taraz
The Archaeological Park which occupies the area of 20 hectares has an entrance arch, a watchtower, an ethno-cultural centre with a House of Friendship and a Congress Hall, an ethnographic museum, Taraz Sardary Stella (Warrior of Taraz) as well as Mynbulak Square (One Thousand Springs). For the first time the residents were presented the exhibits found during archaeological explorations at the ancient settlement of Taraz. The total cost of construction of the complex is 2 bln 500 mln tenge . Recall that Head of State Nursultan Nazarbayev, deputies of the Senate and Majilis of the Kazakh Parliament, ministers and heads of national companies, public figures, representatives of universities, veterans and regional Maslikhat deputies attended the opening ceremony. According to Director of the State Historical-Cultural Museum ‘Ancient Taraz Monuments' Taken Moldakynov, they plan to unearth about 5 hectares of the ancient settlement territory. "We have excavated 1 hectare only. The research exploration work will last till 2017. We have no doubt that we will discover an ancient town. The site promises to be a unique open-air museum in Kazakhstan with antiquities," he said. The park is expected to turn into an international tourist brand and will be included in the list of cities to be visited by EXPO-2017 guests. The ‘Ancient Taraz' project provides for archaeological studies, conservation, restoration and museumification of the monuments of the ancient settlement of Taraz. The Museum is called to become a historical-cultural and research institution aimed at popularization of historical heritage, bringing up respect for the monuments of history and culture. As earlier reported, in 2011 the authorities of the city decided to remove the Central Market in Taraz and launched large-scale archaeological exploration on its site. The project was financed from the local budget .The archaeologists discovered around 40 thousand artifacts belonging to VI-XII centuries, a medieval citadel, a mosque (VII-IX centuries), a madrasah, a zindan (dungeon), foundations of ancient buildings etc.