Sacred Place

The story of the church goes back to July 1869, when Karakol was a garrison town on the edges of the Tsarist Russian Empire. The Karakol church, however, was destroyed in an earthquake in 1889, which caused havoc in the town and took several lives.  It took six years to complete, and was finally consecrated in 1895.  It has seen considerable service, not just as a church. 

At the bottom of the hill Archa-Mazar and on the Road of the Silk in antiquity and Middle Ages; the sacred complex includes buildings of different chronological periods. The mausoleum of Shah-Fazil occupies the southeast corner and dates from the epoch of the expansion of Islam in the 9th and 10th centuries. He differs from other mausoleums by decoration in unique stucco in Central Asia. In the court, a headstone of phallic form is as found there as they call "the stone of fertility» or Tash-Mazar.

South of the city of Bishkek, at the very foot of the Kok Jar mountains, there is a hill named Tashtar-Ata, this place is surrounded by various secrets and legends, and called the mountain of salvation.

According to local residents, the place has a very bright aura; pilgrims come there in search of purification of the soul.

It is impossible to scientifically prove or justify the healing power of the mountain, but the Mountain of Salvation serves as a sanctuary where pilgrims seek salvation from all troubles and diseases.

Issyk-Kul Central Mosque of Karakol city named after Ibrahim Aji was built by initiative of Ibrahim Aji. He invited the famous Beijing architect Chou Seu and 20 carvers with the skills of traditional Chinese architecture and composition techniques for building the mosque. Construction of the mosque began in 1904 and completed in 1907.