Bishkek: Soviet boulevards at the foot of the Tian Shan

Capital of Kyrgyzstan at the foot of the Tian Shan mountains, Bishkek preserves wide tree-lined avenues and monuments from the Soviet era in a Central Asian setting.

The centre, with its wide avenues from the Soviet era, is easily explored on foot with the Tian Shan peaks as backdrop.

Ala-Too Square, the ceremonial heart of the city, hosts the changing of the guard in front of the monument to Kyrgyz independence.

A short walk away, the National Museum of History, a Soviet-era building, displays mosaics and artifacts on the history of the nomadic peoples of Kyrgyzstan, with yurts and traditional textiles.

Walking along the city's broad tree-lined avenues, you can still see statues and monuments from the Soviet era, which survived independence in 1991 without being removed.

On clear days, from the city center you can distinguish the snow-capped peaks of the Tian Shan, a mountain range that dominates the entire region up to the border with China.

Bishkek was renamed Frunze during the Soviet era, in honor of a revolutionary general born in the city: the original Kyrgyz name was restored only after independence in 1991.

The wide tree-lined avenues of the city, designed during the Soviet era to dissipate the Central Asian summer heat, remain shaded even on the hottest days thanks to decades of tree growth.