Description of the attraction
A large 42 hectare site, covered with boulders of various shapes and sizes, is an open-air museum on the outskirts of the Cholpon-Ata resort, located on Lake Issyk-Kul. This area is also called the Stone Garden. To find it, you need to focus on the airfield, which adjoins it from the south.
Stones with a diameter of 30 cm to 3 m are covered with drawings, presumably made by the people who lived on the shores of Lake Issyk-Kul before the arrival of the Kyrgyz. The boulders are carved with scenes of feasts, hunting and animals, mainly deer and snow leopards. The age of the drawings dates back to the period from 2000 BC. NS. until the 7th century n. NS. The hollowed-out images were covered with bright paint. Now they have darkened, but scientists do not risk restoring them for fear of damaging and losing such ancient samples of rock art.
Some archaeologists believe that the stones are located at the site of an ancient observatory. In some places, the stones are arranged in circles around more massive boulders and turned to one side. The drawings carved on the stones could also be an offering or a kind of call to the gods, which means that the field with stones could be used as an ancient sanctuary.
Several tourist routes have been laid along the Stone Garden. The shortest takes only half an hour. The longest one leads to the upper part of the garden, from where there is a wonderful view of the surroundings.
It is believed that drawings began to appear less and less as the local people converted to Islam. But even now, in the ornaments of Kyrgyz carpets, motives characteristic of the petroglyphs of Cholpon-Ata are guessed.
