Opening of the museum
The Museum “Altyn Altai” was opened on December 6th 2018. Danial Akhmetov, akim of East Kazakhstan oblast and Maulen Ashimbayev, first Deputy Chairman of the party "Nur Otan" attended the opening ceremony.
The opening of the museum was fore run by the project "Altyn Altai Museum." The university rector Zhasulan Shaimardanov initiated the project in the frame of the state program «Rukhani Zhangyru».
This direction of university activity was entered to the regional branch program "Tugan Zher" from 2017.
The purpose of the project is to develop and implement the historical concept of the origin of ancient mining and metallurgical practices, the geological structure and its geography, the accumulation of a system of ancient knowledge and the formation of cults. In 2018, "Altyn Altai" Museum entered to the global project of the university "Altai is a Cradle of the Turkic World"
Goals and objectives of "Altyn Altai" Museum
In April 2017, N. Nazyrbaev, in his article "Looking to the Future: Modernizing Public Consciousness", disclosed the first condition for modernizing a new type - "...preserving our culture, our national code". He emphasized that this is "a platform connecting the horizons of the past, present and future of people". These words influenced the beginning of the first stage of the project, when the extensive work was carried out for creating a museum project methodology. At this time, difficult questions arose on understanding the material and nonmaterial historical and cultural heritage of Kazakhstani Altai.
The answer was found in the walls of the university where, over many years of academic practice, the faculty of the Department of Geology gathered a unique mineralogical collection, representing the diversity of fossil resources of Altai.
Museum halls
The first hall of the museum is dedicated to the geology and paleontology of Kazakhstani Altai, at the heart of its history is the formation of a variety of life forms on earth and the nature of minerals, as a prerequisite for the formation of ancient metallurgists' culture.
The second hall contains images and descriptions of millennial practices of the mineral resources development by human being from the Bronze Age. The hall presents material sources in the form of exhibits and models of ancient developments that reveal the stages of spreading the influence of metals not only on human economic activity, but also on the production of weapons and attributes of social status. The culture of the ancient metallurgists of Altai is an important historical example of human consumption, careful interaction with the ecosystem and a rational organization of labor.
Hence, in the present, the modern generation of Kazakhstani people should learn to understand the value of knowledge and technologies of ancient Altai's societies.
The structure of the third hall "Ancient Cults and Knowledge of Altai" contains symbols and images of astronomical representations and ancient mythology, where reveals the nature and essence of shamanic healing practices from the moment when man invented relict magic methods, as well as basic niches for the formation of spiritual values and production of symbols. This hall directly echoes the message of N. Nazarbayev's article "Seven Faces of the Great Steppe" in the context of updating the forms and methods of popularizing the historical heritage in modern society.
Research work of the museum
In 2018, the scientific manual "Geological Atlas" was published in 9 parts based on the museum. The manual presents the main classes of minerals and rocks, describing the physical and chemical properties, as well as the geography of the location of large deposits throughout the planet.
In 2018, virtual reality technology is introduced in the museum.
In 2020, museum specialists released a catalog, which contains all the exhibits of the museum.
Excursion activities
The beginning of organizing and conducting innovative excursions at "Altyn Altai" Museum was laid in 2018. , The work with general education schools and colleges in the region was organized together with the Department of Education of East Kazakhstan oblast.
Potential of the museum
All the trend directions of "Ruhani zhangyru" program are not just the need to develop modern culture in the country, but also to introduce society the horizon of ancient and medieval cultures that are a heritage for us. Therefore, "Altyn Altai" Museum is involved in the media space through television interviews with journalists in republican and regional media and social networks. Through communications in modern society in the language of digital civilization, it is necessary to show how much the ancient people desired to improve their life, technology, space, as modern people do now.
