Unique sights of Karakol.

"The garden is a monument to the man who created it - Dr. Barsov, who worked for many years in Przhevalsk as a guardian of public interests. Barsov was the mayor and guardian of public health. Now he is deceased. But his name will not die as long as the best that exists in Karakol now exists, as long as the garden he planted amazes people."

I. I. Geyer. "Turkestan". 1909.

Nature and geography of Issyk-Kul region.

Barsov Nikolay Mikhailovich (1857 - 1904) - doctor and public figure. After graduating from the medical faculty of Moscow University, from 1880 he served as a senior doctor of the Karakol (Przhevalsk) military hospital, where he worked for 21 years.
Together with doctor Kryzhanovsky, he provided assistance to the seriously ill N. M. Przhevalsky. After the introduction of city self-government in 1894, he became the first elected headman of Przhevalsk. He made a significant contribution to the development of the region: he helped improve the healthcare system, develop school education and improve the district center.
He was one of the initiators of the opening of the first public library-reading room in Priissyk-Kulye in 1902. He actively participated in the activities of the Przhevalsk Society of Dramatic Art Lovers, performing in amateur performances.In 1895, he laid out a park, which was named Barsovsky Garden (since 1924 - A.S. Pushkin Park).
In 1902, he moved to serve in Samarkand, where he soon died. In 1912, grateful residents of Przhevalsk installed his bust in the city park, but it has not survived to this day. Even in his gymnasium years, in the Nizhny Novgorod province, far from the Tien-Shan, Nikolai Barsov firmly decided to become a doctor.
He studied well and easily entered the medical faculty of Moscow State University. Just before receiving his diploma, he accidentally attended a lecture about Turkestan, which was given by one of the graduates of the geography department of Moscow State University.
The lecturer enthusiastically spoke about Kyrgyz folk legends, the picturesque mountains of the distant land and Lake Issyk-Kul, on the shores of which the Russian Empire founded the fortress of Karakol. The words about unknown lands sank into the soul of the young doctor.
For advice, he turned to his teacher Vasily Belonogov, who had once been sent to Turkestan to fight a typhus epidemic. The professor listened attentively to the student and said only one thing: "If you want to get excellent medical practice, you will not find a better place.
The climate there is wonderful, the people are amazing, and there is a ton of work."
So, in 1880, Nikolai Barsov came to Karakol. By that time, the city had already existed for more than ten years. The young doctor began working in a military hospital under the guidance of the famous physician Ivan Ivanovich Kryzhanovsky. He had to treat people of different classes, deal with many diseases, but he remembered one patient forever - in November 1888.
Fate brought Nikolai Barsov together with his famous namesake - traveler and explorer Nikolai Mikhailovich Przhevalsky.
- "Ivan Ivanovich came to me when it was just beginning to get light outside..." - Nikolai Barsov later recalled in a letter to his wife.
- He ordered to collect all the necessary medicines according to the list he had compiled, as well as several medical instruments. It took me about ten minutes. Then we saddled our horses and headed to the yurt, where, as it turned out, Nikolai Mikhailovich Przhevalsky was.
It was very cold inside. It turned out that Nikolai Mikhailovich forbade heating the room, since the heat made him feel very unwell. In addition, he was bothered by the glare of the fire and the smoke. The patient's condition was extremely grave.
He was lying wrapped in fur clothing on a felt mat laid directly on the ground. Ivan Ivanovich and I examined him, and Kryzhanovsky categorically insisted on moving him to a more suitable location. Nikolai Mikhailovich agreed, but set a condition - he would only move to a building next to which his entire detachment with baggage and camels could be accommodated.
I was struck by the fact that even when he was dying, he thought first of all about his expedition. After the move, Przhevalsky perked up a little, but by nightfall he began to delirium. In rare moments of clarity, he continued to dictate his will. Several years later, Nikolai Barsov took Ivan Kryzhanovsky's place as the chief physician of the Karakol military hospital. In addition to treating patients, he now had to resolve administrative issues.
Maintaining correspondence with his Moscow colleagues, he was aware of the latest medical advances and tried to apply them in practice. He often invited fellow students for consultations, and many of them came with pleasure, and some even stayed to work in the hospital for several months.
By this time, Karakol was rapidly expanding, turning into an industrial center. Manufactories were operating, trade was actively conducted, the local fleet was developing. It was becoming increasingly difficult to manage the military economy, and a decision was made to establish the position of city mayor.
A group of entrepreneurs proposed the candidacy of Nikolai Barsov, knowing what order he had brought to the hospital, and hoping that he would cope with the city economy no worse. In 1889, Nikolai Matveevich Barsov became the first city mayor of Karakol.
For his persistence and strength of character, local residents nicknamed him "Bars" - in consonance with his last name. Barsov's wife, Nadezhda Rostislavovna, later shared with a friend:
- "Zina, my dear, congratulate me and cry with me. I am now the wife of the city mayor. Of course, for the provinces this is a high position, and I am happy to some extent. But cry, because I have completely stopped seeing my husband. He is either at the shipyard, or inspecting the factories, or dealing with the budget and taxes.
So much! I do not understand how he manages to do it all. He has lost a lot of weight, and I am afraid for his health. It is paradoxical, isn't it? My husband is a doctor, and I am worried about his health." However, the new position brought Barsov not only troubles, but also the opportunity to fulfill an old dream.
Even in his high school years, he was fond of gardening. On a small plot of five hundred square meters near his parents' house in Nizhny Novgorod, he managed to grow peaches and apricots. In Karakol, he planned to create a truly grandiose park for that time.
Although industry was developing in Karakol, local residents still preferred agriculture. More than 60 percent of the population grew fruits, vegetables and grain crops. However, soil fertility and a favorable climate were not enough - agronomists were needed who could teach people the basics of proper farming: fertilizing the soil, caring for plants, harvesting and weed control.
One day at dinner, Nikolai Matveevich shared his concern with his wife: where to find such specialists? There were few people willing to go to the Kyrgyz hinterland, and those who came at his personal invitation were even rarer.
- "If there are not enough agronomists, maybe it is worth training the peasants themselves so that they can care for the harvest themselves?" - suggested his wife.
Thus, the idea was born to open the first agricultural school in Issyk-Kul. Having learned from a classmate that there was a Petrovskaya Agricultural and Forestry Academy in Moscow, Barsov began writing to the rector's office with a request to send teachers. He sent similar requests to Tashkent, where a branch of the academy was already operating.
In 1902, Nikolai Matveyevich opened another important institution, which is still operating today - the first public library and reading room in the district. Books for it were collected by the whole world: they were brought from Moscow and St. Petersburg, and local residents donated rare copies written in Arabic script.
Nikolai Matveyevich died in 1904. As a token of gratitude, the Karakol residents raised funds for a granite monument to the headman, but after the October Revolution of 1917, it disappeared. Where and under what circumstances - is unknown. Today, the city's residents want to restore historical justice, so that a monument to its founder appears again in the park laid out by Barsov.

Authority:
Lyubov Borisenko (Bishkek)/ Rossiyskaya Gazeta - Nedelya - Kyrgyzstan: No. 206 (8854).
https://rg.ru/2022/09/14/russkij-irbis-nikolaj-barsov.html

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