Travel to the cities of Kazakhstan -
Interesting places of Abay region -
Semey is a large city in the east of Kazakhstan with a population of about 308,126 residents, is the administrative center of the Abay district and is located near the border with Russia on the banks of the Irtysh. The Semipalatinsk fortress was founded in 1718 by order of Peter the Great. In June 2007, by decree of the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, Semipalatinsk was renamed Semey. It is the second largest city after the administrative center of Ust-Kamenogorsk and one of two large cities in East Kazakhstan. The Irtysh River flows through the city from south to north. The city is an important transport hub of East Kazakhstan, the Turkestan-Siberian railway from Russia to the south of Kazakhstan passes through the city. Several important highways connect Semey with other large cities.
How to get there, visit -
The city of Semey is located 240 kilometers from the city of Ust-Kamenogorsk, 40 kilometers from the geographic center of Eurasia, Abay region, Republic of Kazakhstan.
GPS coordinates: 50°24'46"N 80°16'31"E
Climate -
The climate of the Semey region is humid continental. Large seasonal temperature fluctuations are typical, with hot summers and cold winters. Humid conditions prevail all year round. The amount of precipitation is small compared to other regions, with a clear maximum in the summer.
The average annual temperature is 3.5 ° C. There are very large differences during the year: in winter it can reach -45 ° C, in summer + 45 ° C. The average annual wind speed is 2.4 m / s, and the average annual humidity is 66 percent.
History -
The Semipalatinsk Fortress (Semipalatnaya Fortress) on the site of the modern city was founded in 1718 by the military commander Vasily Cheredov by order of the Russian Tsar Peter the Great. The goal was to protect the eastern parts of the country. The fortress was fully equipped already in 1718 and was used by the townspeople as a place of rest. The fortress, designed as a military base, became an important trading point between the Russian Empire and Kazakhstan, and soon also China and Central Asia. As a result, more and more Kalmyks and Dzungars arrived in the city. That is why the customs service was founded in 1728. In 1776, the fortress was transferred under the command of the Governor-General of Western Siberia. During this time, the first bridges were built in Semipalatinsk and the first plans for a military fortress were drawn up, the city council and court were established. In 1782, the fortress was granted city rights. On October 1, 1854, Semipalatinsk was named the center of the region of the same name. The first schools opened in 1863, and ten years later the first telegraph appeared in the city. In 1919, the city was connected to the telephone network and water supply. In the 19th century, many writers were exiled to Semipalatinsk. Russian writer Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky lived in the city from 1854 to 1859 and wrote some of his works here. The description of the city by the then 21-year-old district prosecutor Alexander Yegorovich Wrangel dates back to this time: “In my time, Semipalatinsk was something between a city and a village. All the houses were wooden. The population was five to six thousand people. The first industry was created at the beginning of the 20th century. On August 29, 1949, the first nuclear weapon test by the Soviet Army was conducted at the Semipalatinsk test site near Kurchatov. From 1949 to 1989, it was the largest such test site in the world, along with the American Nevada Test Site. The site was closed on August 29, 1991.
Museums -
In Semey, there is the Fyodor Mikhailovich Literary Museum, dedicated to the Russian writer. Next to the museum is a monument to Dostoevsky with his friend Shokan Valikhanov, a young Kazakh scholar. The Abay Kunanbadzhuly Literary Museum is located in the center of Semey and is a luxuriously furnished domed building, next to the Koranic school that Abay attended as a student and a wooden mosque. The two other major museums in the city are the Semey Museum of Local History and the Museum of Performing Arts. It is one of the largest art museums in the country.
Mosques and Churches -
By 1917, there were 17 mosques in Semey, four of which remain to this day. Since Kazakhstan gained independence, four more mosques have been built. The city's two large mosques on the Irtysh River date back to the 19th century. The more important of Semey's two large mosques is the Cathedral Mosque, built between 1858 and 1861. It has two minarets and is located south of the city center. The Green Stone Mosque, built in the first half of the 19th century, is the city's oldest mosque. These two buildings are among the most important historical and cultural buildings in the country. In May 2008, construction began on a new mosque for 2,000 worshipers with the support of Saudi Arabia.
Most of the Christian buildings are Russian Orthodox churches. The 19th-century Russian Orthodox Resurrection Cathedral is the city's largest Christian church. It is located very close to the Irtysh embankment and was opened in 1896. The city women's monastery with the Peter and Paul Church also dates back to the 19th century.
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