Tourism in Turkestan.

“I've known rivers:
I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins. My soul has grown deep like the rivers” 

Langston Hughes.

Trips and tours to Turkestan.

The complex of service buildings on the railway in Turkestan is located between two lanes of Shelmembet bi and Kazakbaev, which are perpendicular to Abay street. Below Abai Street to the north-east there is a small lane that abuts against the railway tracks.
Here, on the eastern side of the lane, there is a preserved complex of railway service buildings, which were built during the construction of the southern branch of the Orenburg-Tashkent railway in the period from 1900 to 1905.
The complex of service buildings on the railway dates back to the beginning of the 20th century. Located opposite the station building, on the other side of the railway line. Intended for catering to a large number of people.
The complex consists of 2 one-storey buildings and outbuildings, made of bricks. Whitewashed on the front masonry, 2-pitched roofs, with an iron roof. They were built in the style of "brick" architecture, typical for the station buildings of the early XX century. It is an architectural monument of public buildings in Turkestan.
Main service building on the railroad in Turkestan.
The main building on the railway in Turkestan is H-shaped in plan, consists of 3 blocks and forms a symmetrical composition with the inner courtyard space. The lateral volumes had 9 entrances each, separated along the facades by paired rusticated blades.
Details of the facade decor - window sandriks, corner blades, profiled cornices, medallions on the pediments of the ends, rods, etc., are made with curly masonry. The longitudinally elongated side volumes housed spacious dining rooms with a row of columns along the central axis; the central block was occupied by the kitchen.
The internal space was later rebuilt into classrooms, in the interiors in some places there were preserved plafonds, laid out with small wooden blocks, wooden floors, beams. The second, detached building, rectangular in plan, typical in terms of external design and layout, has 4 entrances, the sides of the facades are highlighted by projections, completed with parapets on the roof.
Decor details - window sandriks, cornices, rods, blades are made with curly masonry. In the interiors, gypsum rosettes on the ceiling and rods have been preserved in places.
A glacier for storing perishable food for maintenance on the railroad in Turkestan, built in 1904. It is located among the residential buildings of the railway station area. Serves for storing food in the summer.
Internal partitions are lost. It is a rectangular brick reservoir, a significant part of which is located in the ground at a depth of 2.7 meters, and is filled with ice. Above the ground, the glacier is covered by 2 half-cylinders with 2 entrances located perpendicular to their longitudinal axis. The outer part from the underground part was separated by a wooden flooring, now lost.
Geographic coordinates of railway service building complex: N43 ° 17'04.77 "E68 ° 12'42.91"

Authority:
Arch of historical and cultural monuments of Kazakhstan. Southern Kazakhstan area. Volume 1. Alma-Ata. Main editorial office "Kazakh of an Entsiklopediyasa", 1994. Author of article E.G. Malinovskaya.

Photos by
Alexander Petrov.