Almaty

In Almaty the mountains arrive before you do—snow ridges flash between Soviet tower blocks like a promise the city hasn’t quite decided to keep.

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Places to Visit
Almaty, Kazakhstan Photo: Aleksei Mikhalchuk / Pexels
Attractions
9
Audio
5 h 46 min
Trip length
3–5 days
Best season
June–Sep for hiking; Jan–Feb for skiing

Kazakhstan 43° N · 76° E Updated Apr 2026

Why Almaty

Built from cited sources · see the method · How we make our guides →

The air in Almaty smells of apples and diesel, a combination that makes perfect sense once you learn the city's name translates to 'Father of Apples' in Kazakh. Kazakhstan's former capital isn't trying to impress you — it just happens to house the world's oldest apple forests while serving cocktails mixed by robots in basement bars. The Tian Shan mountains hover so close that locals use them as a weather app: if you can see the peaks, it's going to rain; if you can't, it's already raining.

Soviet-era buildings here weren't just designed — they were engineered to survive. The 1911 earthquake that leveled most structures left Zenkov Cathedral standing tall, its 56-meter wooden frame built without a single nail. Walk five blocks south and you'll find Hotel Kazakhstan, a 102-meter concrete tower specifically calculated to sway rather than crack during a 9-point quake. The city wears its seismic paranoia like a badge of honor.

Between the earthquake-proof monuments, Almaty hides its real treasures: babushkas selling fermented mare's milk at the Green Bazaar, contemporary art galleries in converted bread factories, and coffee shops where baristas can explain the difference between Kazakh and Kyrgyz felt patterns. The mountains aren't just scenery — they're infrastructure. In winter, the cable car to Shymbulak operates at full capacity; in summer, the same route drops hikers at trailheads where wild cannabis grows waist-high along the paths.

This is a city that never quite decided what it wanted to be when it grew up. Soviet planned city? Check. Silk Road trading post? Still happening — just substitute Chinese electronics for ancient spices. Modern Central Asian cultural capital? The opera house sells out, but you'll sit next to someone in traditional felt boots eating sunflower seeds. Almaty keeps all its identities in rotation, like a dealer shuffling cards you didn't know were in the deck.

  • The Nail-Free Cathedral

    Zenkov Cathedral rises 56 m without a single nail; its interlocking Tian-Shan spruce beams survived the 1911 quake that flattened most brick buildings. Inside, the scent of pine resin mingles with candle smoke and the faint metallic ring of brass chandeliers in a space engineered to bend, not break.

  • Apple-Scented Foothills

    Wild Malus sieversii trees—ancestors of every supermarket apple—still fruit along the slopes south of the city. A 20-minute cable car from Medeu drops you at 3 200 m where the air smells of juniper and the horizon tilts toward Kyrgyzstan.

  • Soviet Mosaics in Plain Sight

    The 1965 ‘Enlik-Kebek’ mosaic at Hotel Almaty covers 120 m² of façade and retells a 14th-century Kazakh Romeo-and-Juliet in ceramic. Look up while walking Dostyk Avenue: the colours haven’t been retouched since Brezhnev’s planners signed off.

Places to Visit

Not every monument, just the ones we'd walk you past ourselves.

All 106 places in Almaty

Neighborhoods

Where to wander, by quarter — each with its own rhythm.

  • Almaly District

    The historic heart where every building has a survival story. Zenkov Cathedral's multi-colored wooden domes dominate Panfilov Park, while the Green Bazaar's honey-stained aisles sell everything from $3 laghman noodles to $300 eagle hunter hats. The grid system here was designed for earthquake drainage — notice how streets angle slightly east, channeling mountain runoff away from the 1907 cathedral foundations.

  • Dostyk Avenue Strip

    Almaty's answer to Parisian boulevards, lined with apple trees that actually fruit in September. International hotels occupy 1970s Soviet modernist blocks, their concrete facades hiding rooftop bars where cocktails cost more than the average local pension. The avenue's original name, Gorky Street, still appears on older building plaques — a quiet rebellion against post-independence renaming.

  • Samal Micro-District

    Where locals actually live and eat. Between the 9-story Khrushchev-era apartments, you'll find Sandyq serving beshbarmak on tables covered with traditional felt, and basement wine bars pouring Kazakh Riesling that shouldn't work but absolutely does. The neighborhood's brutalist shopping center contains a supermarket where horse sausage shares refrigeration space with Korean kimchi — Almaty's demographic in cold storage.

  • Kok-Tobe Foothills

    The city's escape hatch. Cable cars leave every 12 minutes from Abay Avenue, climbing 1,100 meters past avalanche barriers that look like concrete dinosaur teeth. At the top: a Beatles monument (why? nobody's quite sure), a ferris wheel that operates at a 15-degree angle due to seismic settling, and views that make you understand why the mountains are technically in China but spiritually belong to Almaty.

  • Auezov Theater Quarter

    Soviet intelligentsia territory. The academic opera house anchors a cluster of 1950s buildings where balconies were added later — earthquake codes originally prohibited decorative overhangs. Theater-goers still queue for tickets at the same windows where their grandparents bought seats for censored productions, though now they check Instagram between acts instead of whispering samizdat.

Plan your trip

Before you go

Getting There
Almaty International Airport (ALA) sits 15 km northeast of centre; express bus 92 reaches Abay Avenue in 30 min. Almaty-1 and Almaty-2 rail stations link to Astana (14 hrs) and Bishkek (6 hrs). The M36 highway north becomes the A2 to Astana; south, the A351 winds toward Bishkek.
Getting Around
One metro line, 11 stations, opened 2011, runs 06:00-23:30 from Raiymbek Batyr to Moskva. Buses and trolleybuses use the ONAY card—400 ₸ purchase, tap flat 150 ₸ fare. Yandex Go rides start at 400 ₸; bike rentals 5 000 ₸/day from Central Park kiosks.
Climate & Best Time
Spring (Apr-May) swings -2 °C to 20 °C and brings tulips to the steppe. Summer (Jun-Aug) hits 30 °C but cools to 15 °C at 3 000 m with afternoon storms. Autumn (Sep-Oct) is dry, 5-25 °C, maples on fire. Winter (Dec-Feb) averages -5 °C, snow reliable for Shymbulak skiing. Come mid-June–early September for hiking; January-February for snow.
Language & Currency
Russian dominates conversation; Kazakh is state language. A simple ‘Salem’ earns smiles. Tenge (KZT) only—cards accepted almost everywhere, but carry cash for bazaar stalls. Tipping 10 % in cafés is polite, not obligatory.

Apple trees and aftershocks

How a tsarist fort became Kazakhstan’s cultural engine

  1. c. 1500 BCE

    Bronze-Age shepherds carve the cliffs

    Pastoral tribes scratch hunting scenes into the black varnished rock of Tamgaly Gorge, 170 km northwest of today’s city. Their camels, sun-headed deities and dancing shamans still stare back at visitors who hike the dry canyon at dawn. The petroglyphs mark the first known human fixation with this stretch of the Zailiysky Alatau foothills.

  2. 1854

    Russia plants Verny fortress

    Major Peremyshev’s detachment drives in the first palisade stakes beside the Malaya Almatinka river. The wooden blockhouse is meant to keep the Semirechye caravan route out of Qing hands; locals simply call the place ‘Zailiyskoye’—‘beyond the mountains’. Within a year it is renamed Verny, ‘faithful’, and the first Cossack huts appear.

  3. 1867

    Verny becomes regional capital

    The Tsar’s decree promotes the fort to centre of newly created Semirechye Oblast. Brick replaces timber, a grid of straight avenues is laid over apple-tree roots, and Tatar merchants open the first caravanserai. Russian officers grumble that the bazaar smells of kumis and mutton fat; they stay anyway.

  4. 1887

    Earthquake flattens the frontier town

    At 4 a.m. on 28 May the ground jerks 7.3 metres sideways. Adobe walls crumble like stale bread, 330 people die, and only the timber mosque survives intact. Rebuilding codes insist on one-storey wooden houses with iron roofs; the smell of fresh pine planks drifts through the streets for months.

  5. 1904

    Zenkov’s nail-less cathedral rises

    Engineer Andrey Zenkov supervises 1,200 workers who fit 600 cubic metres of Tian-Shan spruce together like a giant jigsaw—no nails, just wooden dowels and copper plates. When the 1911 quake hits, the 56-metre structure sways, then settles exactly where it started. Worshippers swear the bells rang themselves that night.

  6. 1904

    Abilkhan Kasteyev, painter of the steppe

    Born in a shepherd’s winter hut near Taldykorgan, Kasteyev will walk 250 km to Alma-Ata in 1932 clutching rolled-up watercolours of galloping horses. His vivid yurt interiors and salt-mine scenes become the visual memory of a nomadic world being bulldozed for collective farms. The city’s main art museum now carries his name.

Show the full timeline (17 moments)
  1. 1911

    Kebin quake erases the city again

    A sub-surface rupture 80 km east snaps telegraph poles in half; Verny loses 780 buildings. Only the cathedral, the mosque and one tsarist school remain upright. Survivors camp in apple orchards while aftershocks drum under their bedding; the scent of crushed fruit mixes with brick dust for weeks.

  2. 1921

    Bolsheviks rename the city Alma-Ata

    Red Army cavalry trot into a half-ruined town still smelling of quake dust. The revolutionary committee drops the Tsarist ‘Verny’ and revives the Kazakh ‘Father of Apples’. Street signs are repainted overnight; shopkeepers wake up unable to spell their own address.

  3. 1929

    Capital of Kazakh ASSR arrives by train

    The Turkestan-Siberia railway unloads government archives, typists and a bronze Lenin bust at the new station. Moscow architects disembark with blueprints for seismic-proof Stalinist squares; apple orchards make way for symmetrical avenues wide enough for May-Day tanks.

  4. 1948

    Academy of Sciences opens on Pushkin Street

    Alexey Shchusev’s neoclassical palace—complete with Corinthian columns and a mosaic of Galileo—welcomes geologists cataloguing uranium in the Tien Shan. The institute’s first task: study why the nearby fault keeps twitching. Seismographs click day and night, a metronome for the atomic age.

  5. 1959

    Dinmukhamed Kunayev takes the helm

    The son of a poor shepherd becomes First Secretary and quietly feeds Alma-Ata the best of Soviet investment: a circus, a ski jump, a television tower. Kunayev rules for 26 years; his photograph hangs in every office, and locals joke the city’s apple trees bloom on his birthday.

  6. 1977

    Hotel Kazakhstan pierces the skyline

    At 102 metres, the turquoise-panelled tower is the first high-rise engineered for a nine-point seismic zone. Its revolving restaurant completes one turn every 90 minutes; diners watch avalanches on the distant peaks between courses of borscht. Earthquake drills interrupt breakfast—waiters calmly guide guests down 26 flights.

  7. December 1986

    Jeltoqsan riots ignite Republic Square

    Thousands of students protest Kunayev’s replacement by an ethnic Russian. Police batons crack against young collarbones; buses burn, and the smell of tear-gas drifts into hospital wards. The demonstrations plant the seed that Kazakhstan can, one day, say no to Moscow.

  8. 1991

    Independence declared on the palace balcony

    Nursultan Nazarbayev steps onto the Palace of the Republic’s marble balcony and declares Kazakhstan sovereign while snow falls on the crowd below. The red flag comes down; the sky-blue eagle banner rises. Fireworks echo against the mountains, sounding like distant artillery.

  9. 1997

    Capital departs for the northern steppe

    Government ministries pack into railway containers headed for Astana, 1,200 km away. Alma-Ata keeps its universities, banks and apple-scented parks; overnight it becomes the country’s biggest ex-capital. Locals shrug—‘We still have the mountains,’ they say, and order another coffee on leafy Dostyk Avenue.

  10. 2017

    Archcode project maps Soviet futures

    Volunteers photograph 100 modernist mosaics, bus shelters and constructivist housing blocks before developers swap them for glass cubes. Instagram fills with candy-coloured geometries, and city hall finally lists the Hotel Kazakhstan as heritage. Preservationists toast with plastic cups of kumis on the 1970s rooftop.

  11. 2025

    UNESCO weighs the quake-proof ensemble

    The cathedral, government house and skyscraper are bundled into a tentative World Heritage bid celebrating seismic engineering as art. If accepted, Almaty will be the only city whose claim to fame is surviving itself. Meanwhile, wild apple forests still cloak the southern slopes, quietly fathering the next impossible city.

Who lived here

  • Painter · 1904–1972

    Abilkhan Kasteyev

    Lived and worked here

    He wandered these streets with a折叠 easel, turning nomadic legends into Kazakhstan’s first national art. Visit his namesake museum; his descendants say he’d still sketch the walnut vendors outside.

  • Writer · 1897–1961

    Mukhtar Auezov

    Based in Almaty, home museum here

    In a timber house on Kunayev Street he wrote the 1,500-page epic that gave Kazakhs their literary founding myth. Today the house smells of apple tea—guides recite his dialogue in the same courtyard where he argued with Soviet censors.

  • Politician · 1946–2022

    Vladimir Zhirinovsky

    Born in Almaty (then Alma-Ata)

    The firebrand Russian nationalist first learned to shout in a Soviet classroom on Gogol Street. Alma-Ata’s quiet apple-scented avenues probably shaped the volume he needed to be heard in Moscow.

Where to Eat

Where locals actually book dinner — not the tourist menus.

Insider tips

Small things that change how the city treats you.

  • Use Yandex Go

    Skip airport taxis and order via Yandex Go; it's half the price and you can track the route in-app.

  • Grab ONAY Card

    Buy the 500 tenge ONAY card at the airport kiosk for unlimited 90-tenge bus/metro rides instead of 150 cash fare.

  • Refuse Stranger Snacks

    Politely decline food, gum or cigarettes from strangers—druggings for theft still happen on night trains.

  • Toast Before Eating

    Wait for the host's toast and first bite; starting early is considered rude, especially at beshparmaq dinners.

  • Lake BAO Hike Early

    Catch the 8 a.m. marshrutka to Big Almaty Lake; police turn day-trippers back after 11 a.m. when quotas fill.

Frequently asked

Is Almaty worth visiting?

Yes—one day you can stand in a 1907 wooden cathedral built without nails, the next hike a turquoise reservoir at 2,500 m. Soviet mosaics, apple-scented markets and a cable car that drops you onto a glacier in 15 minutes make it Central Asia’s easiest thrill.

How many days in Almaty?

Three full days covers the city sights plus a day trip to Charyn Canyon or Kolsai Lakes. Add two more if you want to ski Shymbulak or tackle multi-day Tian Shan treks.

Is Almaty safe for solo female travellers?

Generally yes, stick to main streets after dark and use Yandex Go instead of hailing cars. The main risk is drink-spiking—keep your own vodka bottle sealed at bars.

What’s the cheapest way from Almaty airport to the city?

Express bus 92 or 79 to Respublika Square costs 150 tenge (≈ $0.30). A Yandex Go to Dostyk Avenue runs about 2,000 tenge—still cheaper than taxi touts asking 5,000.

When is the best time to visit Almaty?

Mid-June to early September for warm city days and accessible alpine lakes. Ski season peaks January–February; April–May brings wildflower meadows but occasional snowmelt mud.

All Places to Visit.

106 places to discover

Medeu
Place

Medeu

Ile-Alatau National Park
Place

Ile-Alatau National Park

Park of 28 Panfilov Guardsmen, Almaty
Place

Park of 28 Panfilov Guardsmen, Almaty

Place

State Puppet Theatre

Kok Tobe
Place

Kok Tobe

Abay Opera House
Place

Abay Opera House

Auezov Theatre
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Auezov Theatre

A. Kasteyev State Museum of Arts
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A. Kasteyev State Museum of Arts

Ascension Cathedral
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Ascension Cathedral

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National Library of Kazakhstan

Place

Musirepov Kazhak Children'S and Youth Theatre

Kazakhstan National Museum of Instruments
Place

Kazakhstan National Museum of Instruments

Central Mosque (Almaty)
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Central Mosque (Almaty)

Palace of the Republic
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Palace of the Republic

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State Academic Russian Drama Theatre Mikhail Lermontov

Baluan Sholak Palace of Culture and Sports
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Baluan Sholak Palace of Culture and Sports

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Russian Theatre for Children and Teenagers

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Republican State Academic Uyghur Musical Comedy Theater Named After. Kuddus Kuzhamyarov.

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Almaty Botanical Garden

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Saint Nicholas Orthodox Church in Almaty

Almaty Tower
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Almaty Tower

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Kensai Cemetery

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Museum Complex of S. Mukanov and G. Musrepov

Baitursynov Home Museum
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Baitursynov Home Museum

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The Beatles Monument (Almaty)

Place

Korean Theatre of Kazakhstan

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Pioneer Palace, Almaty

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Museum of Archaeology

Our Lady of Kazan Church in Almaty
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Our Lady of Kazan Church in Almaty

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Republican Book Museum

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Central Park

Museum of Almaty
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Museum of Almaty

The Republican Museum of Sports and Olympic Glory
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The Republican Museum of Sports and Olympic Glory

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Natural History Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan

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Wedding Palace

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Church of the Icon of the Mother of God "Joy of All Who Sorrow"

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Kunaev Home Museum

Saints Faith, Hope, Charity and Their Mother Sophia Orthodox Church in Almaty
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Saints Faith, Hope, Charity and Their Mother Sophia Orthodox Church in Almaty

Almaty International Airport
Place

Almaty International Airport

Almaty Central Stadium
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Almaty Central Stadium

Sunkar International Ski Jumping Complex
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Sunkar International Ski Jumping Complex

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Boralday

Golden Warrior Monument
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Golden Warrior Monument

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Jambyl Kazakh State Philharmonic

Kyzyl-Tan
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Kyzyl-Tan

Almaty National Circus
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Almaty National Circus

Hotel Kazakhstan
Place

Hotel Kazakhstan

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Kinoteatr Arman

Showing 1–48 of 106 places

Photo credits (18)
  1. Aleksei Mikhalchuk — Pexels License (https://www.pexels.com/license/) — Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/17349765/
  2. Aleksei Mikhalchuk — Pexels License (https://www.pexels.com/license/) — Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/15156760/
  3. Aibek Skakov — Pexels License (https://www.pexels.com/license/) — Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/28718696/
  4. Aibek Skakov — Pexels License (https://www.pexels.com/license/) — Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/28856102/
  5. Radis B — Pexels License (https://www.pexels.com/license/) — Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/27706770/
  6. Aibek Skakov — Pexels License (https://www.pexels.com/license/) — Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/28912997/
  7. Radis B — Pexels License (https://www.pexels.com/license/) — Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/27706773/
  8. Nursultan's Photos — Pexels License (https://www.pexels.com/license/) — Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/31189131/
  9. Aibek Skakov — Pexels License (https://www.pexels.com/license/) — Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/28912854/
  10. Aibek Skakov — Pexels License (https://www.pexels.com/license/) — Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/28913505/
  11. Керамический купол Центральной мечети Алматы, 2008-03 — Gulsana Battakova — CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) — Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Керамический_купол_Центральной_мечети_Алматы,_2008-03.jpg
  12. Palace of the Republic, Almaty 2022 — DS28 — CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) — Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Palace_of_the_Republic,_Almaty_2022.jpg
  13. Kazakhstan P9200599 14 (39253139165) — t_y_l — CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/) — Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kazakhstan_P9200599_14_(39253139165).jpg
  14. Rooms of State Museum of Arts, Almaty 03 — Davide Mauro — CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) — Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rooms_of_State_Museum_of_Arts,_Almaty_03.jpg
  15. ALA GATOB ABAI — Sofi Kan — CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) — Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ALA_GATOB_ABAI.JPG
  16. 20141012 Kazakhstan 1376 Almaty — Dan Lundberg — CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/) — Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20141012_Kazakhstan_1376_Almaty.jpg
  17. ALMATY AIRPORT - panoramio — Kayhan ERTUGRUL — CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) — Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ALMATY_AIRPORT_-_panoramio.jpg
  18. 3200 Shymbulak — Sashamuuu — CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) — Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:3200_Shymbulak.jpg

Photos may have been resized or cropped.