HOUSE-MUSEUM OF ABAI KUNANBAYEV

The house-museum of the great Kazakh poet Abai Kunanbayev was first opened in 1940 by the decision of the Council of People’s Commissars of the Kazakh SSR in honor of the 95th anniversary of the birth of the poet. Originally he was housed in the house of Bekbai Bayisov, and then from 1944 to 1967 he was in the house of Aniyar Moldabaev. This two-story mansion was built in the last quarter of the XIX century. The history of this mansion is as follows. It is known that Abay, in addition to intense creative work, was engaged in public affairs, enlightenment and charity. He paid a lot of attention to the fact that the children of his relatives sought knowledge, studied in the city, cared for them in every possible way. Aniyar Moldabayev was one of those wards. At the insistence of Abai, Aniyar was disaccustomed to Russia and, having received a lawyer’s certificate, returned to his homeland. Arriving in Semey, Abai often stayed in this house. A well-known mansion in the city had every reason to become a memorial museum of Abai. It is no accident that in 1940 the choice as an object for the creation of the museum stopped at this house. The first director was a young talented writer Kayum Mukhamedkhanov. The location of the house retained its old, almost original appearance. The museum is surrounded by buildings a hundred years ago. The main halls of the museum are devoted to the exposition: “Abai and his time”, “Seasons”, “Abai in fine art”, “Abai and modernity”, “Oriental poems”, “Abai works”, “Abai in the heart of the people, “” Hall of souvenirs, “” Poem Iskander. ” In five rooms and three halls of the museum are exhibited materials donated by relatives and friends of Abai. Among them – books, photo documents of those years, Abay’s three-string dombra, household items, etc. Here are photos of the exiled friends of the poet. Such a unique house-museum has preserved the memory of the living poet to this day.