The regional museum of the history of the steppe region in the city of Arkalyk
Museum of the Steppe Region - one of Kazakhstan’s leading scientific and educational institutions - is dedicated to the study and promotion of the country’s historical and cultural heritage. The museum was established in 1972 and officially opened in 1973 in the city of Arkalyk as the Turgay Regional Historical and Local History Museum. Since 1998, the institution has borne its current name - Museum of the Steppe Region.
The museum is located in the central part of Arkalyk. The building, with a total area of 1,684 square meters, houses 11 exhibition halls and a separate cinema hall. In front of the museum are several prominent memorial and historical-cultural objects: monuments to Vladimir Lenin and the historical figure Keiki Batyr, an excavator bucket and samples of ore extracted by Hero of Socialist Labor M. Demchenko in 1961 during the initial development of the Turgay mineral deposits. A marble stele, 5.25 meters high, also stands here, featuring bronze bas-reliefs of Amangeldy Imanov, the leader of the 1916 Turgay Uprising, and Alibi Zhangildin, a prominent statesman.
The museum’s collection contains over 72,000 items, of which around 20,000 form the core collection. A significant portion of the holdings consists of unique archaeological, ethnographic, and historical-cultural artifacts. Among them are Neolithic and Andronovo culture objects uncovered during archaeological excavations; pitchforks and other tools from the Kozhai-1 burial mound; double-chambered burials from the Tokanay area; and a mammoth skeleton recovered from the valley of the Zhylyanshyk River. These exhibits vividly illustrate the ancient historical layers of the region.
The museum’s ethnographic section presents a wide range of applied art created by the inhabitants of the Turgay region. These include items made of leather, wool, bone, and wood, as well as silver jewelry such as necklaces, pendants, rings, signets, belt buckles, and other pieces of decorative art. A special section of the exhibition is dedicated to spacecraft landings and meetings with cosmonauts, who touched down in the Arkalyk area in the second half of the 20th century. These exhibits highlight the region's close ties with the history of both Kazakh and global space exploration.
The museum building's facade is decorated with ornamentation made of national marble. Since 1982, the museum has been under state protection and holds the status of a monument of national cultural heritage. Outstanding public figures played an important role in the museum's establishment and development. Of special note is Uzbekali Zhanibekov, who, as Secretary of the Turgay Regional Party Committee, initiated the conceptual design and the formation of the museum's scientific and artistic vision. The first director of the museum, renowned journalist and writer Tulen Rsaev, made a significant contribution to the development of the thematic-exhibition plan and the collection of museum materials.
Today, the Museum of the Steppe Region is recognized as a major center not only at the regional level but also nationally and internationally. The institution regularly conducts scientific research, local history studies, and cultural-educational activities in the fields of archaeology, ethnography, history, and art studies.