Ykylas Museum of Folk Musical Instruments
Kazakh instruments in a wooden 1908 building by Zenkov, on the edge of Panfilov Park.
The museum occupies the former House of Officers, a wooden building of 1908 put up under the direction of Andrei Zenkov, the engineer behind the Ascension Cathedral a few steps away in Panfilov Park. Carved verandas and fretwork in a neo-Russian manner are combined with Kazakh motifs, among them the agash tree of life and the unbroken uzilmes line. The museum opened in 1980 and takes its name from Ykylas Dukenuly, the nineteenth-century kobyz player and composer.
More than a thousand instruments are held, from the two-stringed dombra and the horsehair kobyz to the zhetigen, sybyzgy and sazsyrnai, shown both as originals and as reconstructions of older types. Instruments that belonged to figures such as Abai, Zhambyl and Kurmangazy are among the exhibits, and there are pieces from other parts of Asia and Europe for comparison. Staff give short demonstrations, and the museum also runs concerts, master classes and conferences on traditional music.
Highlights
- Wooden House of Officers of 1908 built under Andrei Zenkov
- More than a thousand instruments, Kazakh and foreign
- Dombra, kobyz, zhetigen and sybyzgy shown in old and modern forms
- Live demonstrations and concerts of traditional music
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