Ata-Beyit Memorial Complex
Ата-Бейит
A national memorial park at the foot of the mountains south of the city, where victims of the 1938 Great Purge and the writer Chingiz Aitmatov are buried, with views of Tian Shan snowy peaks.
Ata-Beyit (“Graves of the Fathers”) lies at the foot of the mountains in Kojo-Tash village, about 25 km south of Bishkek. During Stalin's Great Purge in 1938, 137 Kyrgyz politicians and intellectuals were secretly executed and buried here, among them the father of the writer Chingiz Aitmatov. After the site was discovered in 1991, it was developed into a national memorial park. Aitmatov, who died in 2008, was also buried here. The complex contains a monument to the victims, Aitmatov's grave and a small museum, as well as monuments commemorating the 1916 Urkun exodus and the victims of the 2010 events, set against the snowy peaks of the Kyrgyz Ala-Too. Free admission. Getting there: about a 40-minute taxi ride from the city. Note: Please maintain a respectful, solemn atmosphere.
Opening hours
About 09:00–17:00 (check on site)
Nearby sights
- Chunkurchak Gorge
- Gareev Botanical Garden
- Erkindik Boulevard
- Ala-Too Square
- Osh Bazaar
- White House
- Oak Park
- State Historical Museum