The Museum of the History of the City of Kokshetau of the Culture Department of the Akmola Region is an important cultural institution whose activities are aimed at collecting, studying, preserving and promoting the history of the regional center – the city of Kokshetau.
The museum is located in the ancient part of the city, on Kanai bi street, 32. It was in this part of the city, at the foot of the Bukpa hill, on the shore of Lake Kopa, that the birth of Kokshetau began in the first quarter of the 19th century. Today, the museum complex, consisting of several separate buildings, is a historical monument of Republican significance and represents an example of local wooden architecture, as a typical example of a city estate of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
From 1889 to 1905, the family of the future statesman of the Soviet era, Valerian Kuibyshev, lived in this house; he spent his childhood and youth here. During the Great Patriotic War, this house housed a rear hospital for wounded soldiers of the Red Army. After the war, in 1949, the Republican Memorial Museum of V.V. was opened there. Kuibysheva, which was led for more than 30 years by his sister – the first Honorary Citizen of Kokshetau – Elena Vladimirovna Kuibysheva.
In 2000, it was reorganized into the Museum of the History of the City of Kokshetau. The museum exposition was opened in 2004, in the year of the 180th anniversary of Kokshetau.
The five small halls of the museum reflect in chronological order the main milestones of the history of Kokshetau, from its foundation in 1824 to the present day. The exhibition introduces the city of Kokshetau in the 19th and 20th centuries, the history of the formation of its economy, industry, healthcare, education, culture, and the life of people who contributed to the development of the city.
The excursion begins with an inspection of a colorful diorama reflecting the beginning of the construction of the Kokchetav settlement in the first quarter of the 19th century, made by the famous artist S.P. Pozharsky.
The first hall of the museum introduces the names of such historical figures inextricably linked with the Kokshetau land as Ablai Khan, Kenesary Khan, Kanai bi. A small part of the exhibition is dedicated to the life of the famous Kazakh ethnographer Sh. Ualikhanov. Household items of Kazakhs and peasant migrants, copies of ancient documents on the founding of the Kokchetav district order are presented.
The exhibition in the second hall tells about the life of the city of Kokshetau in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, about the transformation of a small Cossack village into a county town in the Akmola region. For visitors, materials are presented that testify to the difficulties of the formation of Soviet power, the period of famine and Stalinist repressions.
The exposition of the third hall is dedicated to the history of the appearance of the first railway in Kokshetau in 1922 and the life of the city during the Great Patriotic War. Despite the fact that Kokshetau was located deep in the rear, its residents worked at the military secret factory No. 621, which produced defense products, treated wounded soldiers in evacuated hospitals, sent wagons with warm clothes and food to the front, and did everything to bring Victory closer
In the same room there is a small exhibition dedicated to the stay in Kokshetau in 1966 of the famous Russian writer, memoirist Anastasia Tsvetaeva, the younger sister of Marina Tsvetaeva and who dedicated the story “Old Age and Youth” to our city (in the first edition “Kokchetav”).
The fourth room tells about the period of rapid growth of Kokshetau in the 1960-1970s, when, under the leadership of the first secretary of the Kokshetau regional committee of the CPSU E.N. Auelbekov, intensive construction of industrial enterprises, plants, factories, residential buildings, schools, hospitals, and kindergartens began. From a one-story provincial town, Kokshetau is turning into a modern city with developed infrastructure.
An interesting fact from the life of Kokshetau is its long-term cooperation (since 1989) in the field of education, medicine, and business with the American sister city of Waukesha, Wisconsin.
The exposition of the fifth hall introduces visitors to modern Kokshetau, which has achieved significant success over the years of development of independent Kazakhstan. The history of city-forming enterprises is presented, such as the gold mining enterprise Altyntau Kokshetau JSC, Tynys JSC, KamAZ-engineering JSC, Kokshetauminvody JSC, Novopek LLP, ENKI LLP. The exhibition presents materials on the history of the development of healthcare, education, culture and sports.
The excursion ends in the courtyard of the museum, where the open-air exhibition presents a unique exhibit – a retro car of the American Cadillac brand from the 1930s of the twentieth century, a bicycle of the German brand “Durkopp” (1930s), as well as ancient types of horse-drawn transport – winter sleigh “kosheva” and summer carriage.
Of great interest to visitors is the retro exhibition “Old Apartment” created by the museum staff, reflecting the life and everyday life of city residents in the 1950s-1960s.
The museum funds store more than 18 thousand exhibits. These are antiques, household items, applied arts, old photographs, documents, manuscripts, memoirs and other sources reflecting the history of the city and its inhabitants.
The museum offers the following services:
– excursions in the museum in the state and Russian languages;
– visiting lectures, traveling exhibitions, museum history lessons;
-evening meetings with interesting people, Honorary Citizens of the city, war and labor veterans, people of interesting professions;
– methodological assistance on issues related to the history of the city.
