Glossary
The encyclopedia of the tourist
O
Ochna. Ancient stone implements have been
found in the village. Top
Oi-Tal. A small hamlet about
100 kilometers East of Chalpon Ata, with a ruin by the lakeside known
as the «Castle Dungeon». Top
Orgorochor. A small village
about 30 km West of Karakol. The Historical Museum of Jety-Orguz is
here, started in 1990 to record the local history from a distinctly
Kyrgyz viewpoint.
It was the birthplace of Telekmat Sartikiev (1799-1863)
who served as ambassador to China, Russia and the Kokand Khanate.
The first Kyrgyz ambassador to Russia was dispatched to Ekaterinburg
as early as 1787, and others followed in 1814/15 and 1824/25. Trade
relationships with their neighbours having been a source of conflict
throught the previous century.
Apparently, the village housed Japanese prisoners
of war in World War. Top
Orlovka. The birthplace of Theodore Hetzen,
the artist. There is a small museum dedicated to his life and work in the
village.
Hertzen was born in 1935. He was educated at both the Bishkek and
Moscow Institutes of Art and he has been granted many awards such as
the titles of Monumental Draughtsman, Kyrgyz National Painter and Kyrgyz
National Art Craftsman. He has exhibited in several exhibitions and galleries
- in Kyrgyzstan, the former Soviet Union and internationally.
He works in a variety of media. As well as painting in oils, he
has created a series of pastel landscapes dedicated to the nature found
in the Talas valley.
He pioneered monumental paintings for industrial interiors and created
works in mosaic (examples are found throughout the country, for example
in social clubs in both Kemin and Kochkor, the «Kirov» reservoir, the Theatre
in Osh and until recently in the Ai-Peri building in Bishkek).
It is as a book illustrator that he is most famous. He created a
series of over 200 linocuts based on the «Manas» epic which took over ten
years to complete - and examples can be seen in the Fine Arts Museum in
Bishkek and a collection of them have been published separately in book
form - His paintings have also been used by many authors, including Chinghiz
Aitmatov, to illustrate their works.Top
Ortok. A village about 60 kilometers
à North west of Djalal-Abad, set in one of the densest forest regions
in Kyrgyzstan - surrounded by mountains and mountain meadows. There
is a wide variety of flora - trees, grasses and other plants - and
fauna. About 6 kilometers outside the village is a cliff with an extensive,
labyrinth, cave system. Top
Orto-Tokoi. The Orto-Tokoi reservoir
on the river Chui alongside the main road between Naryn and Issyk-Kul
has azure waters and makes a pleasant picnic spot, but the water level varies
with the seasons. Top
Osh is one of the most ancient towns in Central
Asia. The exact date of its foundation is unknown. The legends connect its
basis with the name of Alexander Macedonian and even with prophet Solomon
(Suleiman).
Arguing about etymology on the name of city, scientists have not reached
the consent yet because it is rooted in remote ages. Ministers of religion
try to connect an origin of city with legends, in particular, connected with
biblical Sulaiman - who was king Solomon. One of them says, that he conducted
his army, and in front of it he driven a pair of harnessed bullocks, and
when bullocks reached a famous mountain (Sulaiman), Solomon said: "Hosh!"
(Stop!) And the legends say that the city got a name this way. But legends
does not explain neither fact of occurrence of city, nor etymology of its
name, but testify very old agricultural occupations of the inhabitants of
these places.
City Osh, undoubtedly, is the most ancient city in Kyrgyzstan and one of
the most ancient one in Central Asia. The History totals it more than one
thousand, but archeological finds trace its roots back to three thousandth
prescription.
The occurrence of city Osh is connected with a settlement of the ancient
farmers of the Bronze epoch found out on a southern mountainside of Suleiman
considered as a sacred mountain since immemorial times and keeping the certificates
of ancient cults of Islamic period.
The further development of city is directly connected with a geographical
location of city, which is located in the valley of plenty at the bottom
of Pamir, Pamir-Alai.
In the middle ages Osh was a point of intersection for commerce from India
and China to Europe. One of the branches of a Great Silk Way- the Major Trade
of an old age passed through the city connecting East with West.
The trade city Îsh was glorified by its bazaars and caravans - sheds. And
the Main Bazaar located on the left coast of the river Àê-Buura represented
a classical sample of east covered market -tima. More than two thousandth,
Main Bazaar, lives with its noisy and bright life changing its construction
and expanding borders, but remaining on the same place chosen in old time.
Other important page of a history of city Îsh is connected with a name of
the representative of Timurid's dynasty Zaheriddin Muhammad Babur (1483-1530.).
Babur knew the city Osh well and had left many flatter lines about it. He
was born in Andijan. (the neighboring city)
Omar sheikh - Timur's (Tamerlan- iron lame man) great-grandson - was the
governor of the Fergana possession. When the father had died, twelve-yearly
Babur had replaced his father's throne and inherited Fergana. In his old
age he had written the memoirs - " Babur name ",it had became remarkable
literary - art monument and valuable source on a history of the peoples of
Central Asia at the end of XV and at the beginning of the XVI centuries.
As it is visible from the memoirs Babur had been in Osh for many times and
knew the city well that is why he described it skillfully, in detail and
for sure.
The city Îsh was one of the religious Moslem center in Central Asia. All
this is connected with the Suleiman mountain which can heal any illnesses
of pilgrims (from the legends and the national traditions)
The legends and the national traditions of the Suleiman mountain reveal the
very first formation in developing of Îsh as the religious Moslem center
of the Fergana valley. Before the Mongolian period i.e X-XI century up to
the XX- century there were erected cult structures at the bottom of the Suleiman
mountain and on its mountainsides and even at the top of it: mosques, mausoleums
etc. Top
Ottuk. a small village at the
south west corner of the lake - In 2003, a new yurt camp opens here
operated by the tour company Neman. Top
