Kyrgyzstan – Between Marx and the market
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Pristine nature: Kyrgyzstan is often referred to as the Switzerland of Central Asia. Sounds like a cliche, but it is true: from a bird's eye view, the country looks like an endless mountain range with snow-capped peaks. Steppes and meadows characterise the flatter regions, rivers and mountain lakes lend a pleasing charm to the often rugged landscape -
More mosques than churches: some 80 percent of the population are Muslim; Christians are the largest religious minority in Kyrgyzstan. About one million people live in the capital, Bishkek, for whom many new places of worship have been built. They are often situated between socialist prefabricated buildings and new houses. Half-finished buildings and cranes can be seen everywhere -
Burana Tower: the 11th century building is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Following an earthquake, the top broke off, leaving about 20 metres. A very narrow spiral staircase leads up the building. The view is spectacular. The Burana Tower is a draw for tourists and Kyrgyz alike. It is also very popular with wedding couples -
Bishkek's White House: the present-day neo-classical parliament building was built in downtown Bishkek in the mid-1980s as the party headquarters for the Communist Party. Following the country's independence, it has repeatedly been the scene of demonstrations and upheavals – most recently in October 2020 when the parliamentary elections were subsequently declared invalid -
Osh Bazaar: the largest market in Bishkek offers everything you would expect of a bazaar: fruit, vegetables and spices in every imaginable colour, or dried cheese (in the foreground). The meat comes from cows. sheep and horses. T-shirts, trousers, shoes, leather bags, cups, plates, radios, vacuum cleaners – all this and much more is mainly imported from China -
Mobile shops: balloons, toy cars, lemonade and chocolate bars – many people in Kyrgyzstan try to make ends meet by selling such things. Because there is little industry and few jobs in their own country, it is estimated that well over a million Kyrgyz are drawn abroad as migrant workers -
Lenin is everywhere: in most post-socialist countries, statues of the Russian revolutionary Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870-1924) were removed from their pedestals after the fall of the communist dictatorships. In Kyrgyzstan, however, he was simply moved from a large square in the centre of Bishkek to a new location nearby. And oils of Lenin can be bought on the city's art market... -
Marx and Engels: visitors from Germany are likely to be particularly surprised to meet these two gentlemen: the founding fathers of communism, Karl Marx (l.) and Friedrich Engels, in the middle of Bishkek. The old revolutionaries sitting casually in conversation – where else would you find that in the 21st century? In Kyrgyzstan they have been given a leafy site in a small park -
Bergtal becomes Rot-Front: the retired German teacher Wilhelm Lategahn has set up a private museum in the small village of Red Front about the history of ethnic German settlers in Kyrgyzstan. The village, founded by Mennonites in 1927, was originally called Bergtal. Outside, in addition to a panoramic view of the mountain landscape, there is an earth closet...