Karakol City
Karakol is the administrative centre of Issyk-Kul.
The city is situated in the east of the Issyk-Kul Basin at the mouth of the Karakol river, in the foothills of the Terskey Ala-Too mountains, at the altitude of 1770 m above sea level, 13 km from the coast of the Issyk-Kul lake. Karakol is connected with the capital by a road 403 km long.
Summer in Karakol is moderate hot with the average temperature 18° C in July. In winter it often snows. 20 cm - 30 cm snow lies for 140 days. The average temperature in January is -10° C. The annual precipitation is about 570 mm. Maximum precipitation is in summer and minimum precipitation is in winter. Humidity is 60% - 65%.
Karakol city was founded in 1869 as the administrative centre of uyezd (administrative unit). The city is located on the caravan road leading to Kulja. The plan of the city was made by Russian topographers in 1869. The city was divided into rectangular blocks with straight streets. In 1881 construction of 6 blocks was fully accomplished. At the end of the 19-th century the Orthodox Church was built in Karakol. Population of the city increased because Uzbek, Tatar, Uigur, Russian and Ukranian migrants settled here. People were engaged in agriculture, trade, cattle breeding. After the death of the great Russian traveler N.Przhevalsky (he died in Karakol in 1888) the city was given the name Przhevalsk.
At the beginning of the 20-th century Przhevalsk had 3 brewery factories, 7 soap factories, 2 saw mills, 12 flour mills, more than 1000 houses, 2 wooden churches, 9 mosques, 4 medrese, 7 schools, girls’ gymnasium, library, hospital for soldiers.
Construction developed in Przhevalsk after the Great Patriotic War.
In the 1990-s city ‘s traditional name, Karakol, was restored.
In Karakol there are enterprises of power-engineering, wood-processing, light and food industries, production of building materials.
There are many places of interest in Przhevalsk. There is Memorial Complex with the grave and the monument of N.Przhevalsky, the famous Russian traveler-explorer of Central Asia, located 12 km from the city on the high bank of the Issyk-Kul lake. The Monument to Przhevalsky was designed by Academician I.Shreder in 1894, it represents Russian sculpture of the end of the 19-th century. The monument was made of gray granite which was found in Ak-Su gorge by inhabitants of Tiup. The eagle with a map and the bas-relief were made of bronze in St.Petersburg. The park of the Memorial Complex was designed by architect P.Ivanov in 1940-s. On the territory of the Memorial Complex in 1950-s Museum was built designed by architect A.Shprung.
The city has a beautiful park with unique Tien-Shan fir-trees, which was founded in 1895 by a military doctor and active public figure N.Barsov.
The architectural sites of Karakol are: the wooden Dungan Mosque built in 1912 and the wooden Orthodox church built in the last quarter of the 19-th century.