Atyrau (Kazakhstan): vacation at sea. Reviews from tourists

V. E. Foss. Sketches of Guryev town // Collection of statistical, historical and archaeological information on the former Orenburg and current Ufa provinces. - Ufa, 1868.

Guryev-town stands on the right bank of the Ural River, 17 versts from its confluence with the Caspian Sea. The Urals, flowing from the city in a general direction from north to south, flows into the sea through four mouths: Peretaskin, Yaitsky and two Zolotninsky. To the west of Guryev, 7 versts, there is a sea pier called Rakushecheya, because along it and along the seashore there are a lot of shells, that is, finely crushed shells. This pier serves for loading and unloading various goods and all products brought from the city and exported from the Guryev town.

Guryev is located at a distance from the nearest cities: from Uralsk 488 versts - by land and from Astrakhan 350 versts - by sea.

The town is surrounded by steppe, rising very little above the level of the Caspian Sea. The greatest elevation is formed by its southern tip. On the left bank of the Ural River, opposite Guryev himself, there is an exchange yard consisting of old wooden barns. There are no forests in the vicinity of the Guryev town, but there is, 2½ versts below the town, on the right bank of the Urals, a small planted grove of fairly tall black-throat trees; A lot of reeds grow along the seashores, which in Guryev replaces firewood.<…>

Guryev. Huts

The appearance of the town is nondescript; the construction of houses in Guryev is poor; There are houses made of stone, wood and adobe, that is, made of air brick. Mud bricks are made here from earth with sand and even partly with manure; small adobe houses: their roofs are flat, the windows are small; These houses are often coated with clay and whitewashed. In such houses, the fences are mostly made of reeds, and the gates are woven from tall rods. Wooden houses have balconies into the courtyard, and often onto the street; for the most part they are not paneled or plastered; Some have painted roofs, while others have reed roofs. Each house has two courtyards and a special mud storeroom with a door to the street; flour intended for sale is usually stored in these storerooms. Almost every house has high drying sheds in the yard, built from long, tall poles with crossbars. On these drying grounds, the Guryev Cossacks, after sea fishing, dry their nets and ahans. There are often tall masts with flags in courtyards to indicate the direction of the wind.

Residents in the town of Guryev: Ural Cossacks are fishermen, and non-residents are traders who constantly travel to the Caspian Sea. Cossacks go fishing in spring, autumn and winter, and non-resident people, mainly traders, go to sea to buy fish, glue and caviar.

In general, Guryev residents constantly travel on kosovaya boats and Solmovkas to Astrakhan, during all navigation periods, to buy various goods and products there, and mostly bread. From 200 to 350 sacks of flour, 7 poods per sack, are placed in a scythe boat, and from 50 to 80 sacks, 7 poods per sack, in a Solmovka.

The houses, as I already said, in Guryev are wooden, poorly built, old; from old age they got the color gray; small adobe houses with flat roofs, reed fences and wattle fence gates, clogged streets, visible tall drying sheds and masts with flags - all this is very striking to a person who comes to Guryev again, especially when the Cossacks, after sea fishing, hang out their nets and Ahana.

Guryev. Cathedral of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker

There is only one church in Guryev - Edinoverie, the Cathedral of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, a seven-domed stone building with a bell tower and a stone fence, around this fence there are cast iron cannons. There is also one wooden mosque.

There are 8 government buildings, namely: 1) the apartment of the head of the Guryev town - a wooden one-story house with a mezzanine and a balcony facing the street; 2) the office of the head of the Town - a wooden house; 3) the guardhouse and the prison attached to it - wooden; 4) a fire tower and a barn with fire crews attached to it - wooden; 5) an adobe barn occupied by fire crews and pipes; 6) three bread stores, two of them wooden and one adobe; 7) hospital and pharmacy - a one-story wooden house with a mezzanine and a balcony facing the street, and 8) Guryev Folk School - a one-story stone house with a mezzanine and a balcony facing the street; There is a small library at this school. All these government buildings, including the mosque, are located on the embankment of the Ural River.

The Ural Cossack Zheleznov describes the history of the town [In a note to his story “Vasily Strunyashev”. — rus_turk.] as follows:

Now Guryev-town is without any fortifications, but in the old days it was surrounded first by a stone wall with towers, and then, when the wall came to destruction, by a high and dense palisade. At the four corners of this palisade rose stone barbettes or flanks (at least that’s what the Cossacks called them) armed with cast-iron cannons and mortars. There were four gates in the wall, and then in the palisade; of which some facing the shores of the Urals were called Spassky. Now there are almost no signs left of all this, with the exception of a small rampart-shaped hill that encircles in a square one block of the city with a square - where there was an old town, and a dozen and a half rusting cast-iron cannons. The town received its real name Guryev from its founder - the fishing merchant, Russian merchant Mikhail Guryev; but in the old days, until the 18th century, it was called the Yaitsky town or town at the mouth of the Yaika River, and sometimes the Stone Town. The construction of this town dates back to the first half of the 17th century (between 1640 and 1645). Until 1753, the Guryev town was under the jurisdiction of the Astrakhan province, and that year it became part of the Orenburg province, specifically in the department of the Ural Cossacks. From that time on, the Urals began to settle in it; and until then they had a temporary stay here, being sent along with the army to help the local garrison, which consisted of regular soldiers.

Guryev town is important in the life of the Ural residents. That's exactly why. Before he entered the department of the Orenburg province, he had state-owned fisheries at the very mouth of the Urals, farmed out by private Astrakhan industrialists. Industrialists made interruptions, or so-called uchugs, across the entire river from logs, and thereby blocked the entry of fish from the sea into the Urals. Because of this, the Cossacks and the Astrakhan people had frequent and large disputes, which made it very difficult for the authorities to handle the proceedings. Finally, at the request of the Cossacks and at the request of the Orenburg governor Neplyuev, the right to maintain the uchugs was transferred from the Governing Senate to the Urals in perpetuity, with the collection from them every year in favor of the treasury of the amount that the Astrakhan residents paid (4692 rubles 69 k. ac. ). This was between 1742 and 1752. Subsequently, the Cossacks. [AND. I. Zheleznov adds: “But the memory of the Guryev uchugs is still preserved in the name of the Guryev town: Uchuk-Kala, in the name by which the Kyrgyz call it. Uchuk-Kala literally means “City of Uchugs.” — rus_turk.]

Until 1775, the Ural River was called Yaik, and the Ural Cossacks were called Yaik Cossacks.

All residents in Guryev town consist of 2880 of both sexes, of which: Cossack class 2480 people of both sexes, nonresident Russians 250 of both sexes and Tatars 150 people of both sexes, almost all nonresidents are traders. Of the 2,480 people of the Cossack class, some belong to the Edinoverie Church, others to the Old Believer Church, which currently does not exist in Guryev, and others to the non-priest sect. Of the 250 nonresident Russians, there are few Old Believers; Tatars profess the Mohammedan faith. Guryev's Old Believers, although they do not go to church, at home they roughly fulfill their Christian duty. Cossacks and nonresidents observe fasts very strictly, especially regarding food. Cossacks do not smoke tobacco at all and consider it cursed many times over; Kyrgyz workers are considered filthy; they are fed from special wooden utensils. The Guryev Cossacks lead a very active life, they are constantly at work, they have little free time, and are only occasionally at home.

Cossacks on duty wear the following uniform: a blue cloth Cossack with crimson shoulder straps and a crimson scarf, blue trousers with a crimson stripe, a saber over the shoulder on a black belt, and for officers on a silver belt, black lamb papas with crimson piping. When the Cossacks are on horseback, they have a lance with them and a gun behind their back; constables are not entitled to a peak. Each Cossack has his own uniform, weapons and horse. But the Cossacks in Guryev are not often seen in such attire, namely at parades and on major holidays; at other times they wear a semi-uniform dress, and in the summer, on the occasion of great heat, they wear shirts and jackets instead of Cossacks, not only at home, but also at work.

Almost all Cossacks wear uniform caps with a visor, even with civilian dress and a robe. Cossacks who are not on duty, as well as retired ones, wear robes: silk, wool and paper, not only at home, on the street, but even sometimes on holidays, some Cossacks wear robes to church; wealthy Cossacks (not to mention the rich) wear ordinary dress: cloth, triki and drape. All Cossacks, without exception, wear beards, that is, serving and non-serving; officers and nonresident officials do not wear beards.

In Guryev, Cossack women wear ancient sundresses: damask and silk, trimmed from top to bottom with wide silver - white and yellow - braids in two rows and bronze buttons sewn between them the length of the sundress.

The sleeves of the sundress are long, full-length, colored muslin and silk, trimmed around the shoulders with silver braid. Young Cossack women wear sundresses of bright colors, and old Cossack women wear sundresses of dark colors, most often black; there is always galloon decoration on sundresses. On their heads they wear scarves and scarves, light and dark. Many young Cossack women leave sundresses and start wearing dresses; this fashion is adopted from non-residents; Official Cossack women do not wear sundresses at all.

Remarkable are some customs, prejudices and provincialisms in conversations, used exclusively by commoners - Cossacks and many non-residents who live in Guryev for a long time. So, for example, when they meet on the street a Cossack with a Cossack or a nonresident with a nonresident, they greet each other, start a conversation, and when they come home, they greet again and continue the conversation. When a woman crosses a street intersection and a man crosses the street from a side intersection, the woman slows down or stops altogether and waits for the man to pass before her, or vice versa, if a man crosses a street intersection and a woman walks in the middle of the street or from a side intersection , then she slows down her path or stops altogether, and thereby gives way to the man, and she herself passes after him. If someone comes to the house of a family Cossack, and if the Cossack’s wife, or any woman in general, is in this room, then she hastily leaves for another room, and the arriving guest talks with one owner, and in general, men rarely participate in the circle of women, and women , making up their circle, almost do not participate in the circle of men at all. Cossacks have no acquaintance with strangers, strangers to them, and everyone has many relatives - close and distant, both from the husband’s side and from the wife’s side. When the main member of the family - the husband - is away from Guryev, and his wife remains at home, and unless she is an old woman, then there is always a companion with her, a respectable old woman - among the Cossacks - a Cossack, and among non-residents, a non-resident woman. If someone happens to come to one of these houses for business, it often happens that they won’t even open the door, but only ask: who and why? In conclusion, this will be satisfied with the usual answer through the door: “The owner has left for Astrakhan.” Sometimes they open the door a little, but do not wait to explain their business to the person, but rather slam it shut, as if they are afraid of everyone. This strange etiquette is practiced not only by commoners, but even by some noble people.

Dishes with water are always covered with something - a napkin or a board, and not only the one that is placed in the yard or in the kitchen, but even the one that is in the room, even for a short time, so that the water does not become clogged, but actually because, as the Cossacks and Cossack women say, it is a sin to drink water from a container that was not covered with anything. A person little known will not be allowed to draw water from his own tub for drinking, but one of the owners of the house or a servant, a Russian woman, will certainly give the stranger water to drink. This is done so that the stranger does not pollute the water in such a house. Generally speaking, a person who is little familiar with the Guryev residents, especially the Old Believers, should be very careful about drinking water from the household container without asking, and even more careful about smoking tobacco; otherwise, you can get into a lot of trouble from such people, often without even understanding why.

In Guryev, the colloquial language contains a lot of special words and phrases that make up the provincialism of the Guryevites; so, for example, instead of saying: “Was it really like that?”, they say: “What are you saying?”, instead there is nothing — no spirit, instead of the other day or recently — Vaseyka, instead of Fine — gozho, instead of Yes — nothing, instead of ruble — coin, instead of exactly — smooth, instead of bother — dance around, instead of threw — bowed, instead of shouted — zival. And a lot of things like that.

Administration in the Guryev town is dependent on the ataman of the Ural Cossack army and the Ural military chancellery, which appoints Cossack officers in Guryev as chiefs for three years in turn, namely: the head of the Guryev town, the mayor, the investigator for judicial affairs, 2nd officers for protection of Cossack waters from secret fisheries, a commission agent to supervise state grain, chiefs for each fishery at sea [to monitor] the order of fishing, 2 teachers for the Guryev public school and 2 trade deputies from among the Cossacks. The significance of these positions by rank and responsibilities is as follows: the head of the Guryev town, a military staff officer, his duty is to take care of the welfare of the residents and order in the city; mayor, military chief officer, heads the police unit in the city; the investigator, a military chief officer, is in charge of the judicial department in the city, 2 granary, or lighthouse, chiefs, both military chief officers, care exclusively about protecting the Ural River and the northern part of the Caspian Sea from secret fishing traders; They have a team of Cossacks, 3 ships and a picket at the very mouth of the Urals. Lighthouse, or granary, ships often travel near the mouths of the Urals during all navigation periods, i.e. from late March or early April to mid-October. The commission agent - a military chief officer - oversees the receipt and release of government grain for Cossacks going on campaign, as well as for sale to poor Cossacks at a reasonable price. Chiefs of fisheries are appointed in Guryev before the start of sea fisheries, in spring, autumn and winter; At every fishery at sea there are two chiefs, both military staff officers, and with them two assistants, both chief officers, their position is to monitor the order of fishing. The teacher in the Guryev public school is a cadet with the rights of an officer, and with him there is an assistant teacher - a constable; 2 trade deputies, appointed from among the Cossacks, monitor the correctness of trade, and one of them is in charge of civil affairs.

In Guryev there is no disabled team of soldiers, but instead there is a linear team of Ural Cossacks, consisting of 200 people, the same Cossacks. These teams are subordinate to the head of the Guryev town and the head of the line and fire brigades. Each Cossack has his own uniform, weapons and horse; The fire crews and chimneys are government-owned military personnel. The official duties of these teams are as follows: fire Cossacks are alternately on duty with fire crews, pipes and horses; linear Cossacks alternately take guard at the guardhouse, occupy posts in pickets located near the mouths of the Urals and the coast of the Caspian Sea, to protect Cossack waters from secret fisheries; They send postal chases and serve as messengers for their superiors.

Guryev Cossacks serve in the Guryev line and fire brigades for 1 year each (except for the Guryev Cossacks, outpost Cossacks serve in the line and fire brigades). Every year there is a demand for Cossacks for active service: in the line and fire brigades for a year, in the steppe fortifications for 2 years, and in Kazan for 2 years (and in wartime they require Cossacks in regiments). The demand for Cossacks to serve is announced in the city of Uralsk by the military office in the month of March, but not in the same way as in other Cossack troops, in turn; Although there is a line among the Ural Cossacks, those who do not want to serve are allowed to hire another Cossack for themselves; Usually, most of the Cossacks who have the means do not go to service themselves, but instead hire other Cossacks for a hire fee by voluntary consent. Service to the Cossacks is considered from the age of 18, and the service life is twenty-five years; Not all Cossacks perform active service, but how many of them are required by necessity. If, for example, a fourth of all those considered employees are required for active service, then three of them hire a fourth at free prices. Thus, one performs official duties in kind and for this receives money from the three remaining, and these remaining perform their service in money and for this they enjoy the benefits of fishing.

The prices for hiring Cossacks for active service are as follows: for hiring one Cossack in a line command, three Cossacks pay from 30 to 32 rubles per year; the fire brigade pays the same amount for hiring one Cossack; in steppe fortifications, for hiring one Cossack for 2 years, they pay from 200 to 300 rubles for 2 years; in Kazan, for one Cossack for 2 years they pay from 250 to 300 rubles; in wartime, in regiments for campaigns against the enemy, up to 400 rubles are paid for hiring one. Cossacks who do not have the means to hire others to serve on their own behalf are obliged to go themselves when required. Cossacks who hire others for themselves pay the rental money not to the Cossack who was hired, but to the military office, which issues a receipt for receiving the hired money, and then the office itself issues the money to the Cossacks who were hired and who entered the service.

The money for hiring Cossacks into the regiments is given directly to the mercenaries themselves.

All those Cossacks who hire others for themselves, but do not perform any service themselves, are considered city Cossacks, and their service is considered valid, although they themselves do not serve. Urban Cossacks are engaged in farming, namely: fishing, grain trading, cattle breeding and fruit trading.

Each Cossack does not have special land, but everyone has the right to mow hay in the meadows anywhere, that is, near Guryev or near some outpost or fortress; He can mow as much as his needs require. Cossacks are allowed to hire out-of-town workers for mowing; in the first 10 days of haymaking, a Cossack and a constable may have 3 workers, a chief officer 6 and a staff officer 10 workers. After 10 days, the number of employees can be arbitrary. Haymaking is carried out with the permission of the military authorities; usually it starts on the 1st of August and is carried out until the end of this month. During haymaking, Guryev becomes significantly empty, because most of the inhabitants are in the steppe making hay.

The Cossacks do not cultivate the fields near Guryev and do not sow grain, because the soil is saline-silty-clayey, requiring good fertilizer.

The soil contains so much solonetz that sometimes salt comes out of the ground after rain.

The Guryev Cossacks have vegetable gardens, orchards and melon fields on both sides of the Ural River. The soil in them has been sufficiently leached through good manure, and since rains are rare in Guryev, for this purpose chikhiri, that is, wooden water pumps, are built in the gardens on the very shore of the Urals, which, with the help of a large wooden wheel, with the help of a horse and a Kyrgyz worker, Water is pumped from the river for the entire garden, for which purpose wooden gutters are installed in the garden, running near the plants. The water pumped by the chikhir immediately flows through the gutters and thus, in a short time, all fruit plants are supplied with water. The construction of a chikhir costs 200 silver rubles. The following fruits grow in the gardens: apple trees, grapes - white and blue, cherries, plums - white and black, currants, watermelons, melons and pumpkins.

The richest industry of the Ural Cossacks is fishing, of which there are three in the Ural River and three in the Caspian Sea. Each fishery is carried out at a certain time of the year: 1) spring - Kurkhai fishery in the Caspian Sea, carried out from the 1st of April to May 20; 2) spring - stellate sturgeon fishing in the Ural River; it is produced from the 1st of April to the 1st of July; 3) autumn - hot fishing at sea, carried out from mid-August to mid-October; 4) autumn smooth fishing in the Ural River is carried out from mid-September to the 1st of November; 5) winter seine fishing, in the Ural River, is carried out from half December to half January and 6) winter ahannoe (ahan means net), is carried out in the Caspian Sea from January 1 to March 1.

Guryev. During the “flush” in the Urals

Akhan fishing at sea is considered the most profitable among the Guryev Cossacks; Guryev Cossacks fish in the sea, in the river. In the Urals, only a small number participate in fishing.

For each fishery, the ataman appoints in turn a chief - an officer, whose position is to monitor the fishing procedure. Above the fishery in the river. Ural there is 1 chief and over fishing at sea there are 2 chiefs - a staff officer, 2 assistants - both chief officers.<…>

During fishing, seals are often caught in nets; The Cossacks are allowed to take them and kill them on the ice, but it is forbidden to use special means specifically invented for seal catching, as well as to beat a young seal. In February, the seal whelps and crawls out of the water onto the surface of the ice in huge herds, quite far from the fishing site in the depths. At the end of winter fishing, many ahan fishermen go to kill seals; Their weapon is a small stick, at the end of which lead is poured, this stick is called a chakushka; They approach the seals carefully and against the wind, so as not to frighten him, because the seal is very sensitive and at the slightest fright quickly goes into the water. A blow to a seal's forehead or nose with a chakushka is fatal. Having killed one seal, the industrialist blocks the way for the living seals with the killed seal and, when the opportunity arises, two or three Cossacks kill up to 100 seals or more per day. The industrialists bring the stuffed seal on a sleigh along the Ural River to Guryev, where they pay the customs outpost an excise duty of 30 kopecks per pound of seal and sell it to out-of-town traders and merchant Cossacks, who take the seal to Astrakhan and Uralsk; To protect against spoilage, seals in Guryev are salted.

The price for seal in Guryev is 1 ruble per pound in March; Its skin is sometimes sold separately for 25 or 35 kopecks apiece. This fishery is not great.

The main livestock industry in Guryev is sheep breeding -; the Kirghiz of the trans-Ural horde drive these cattle to Guryev to the exchange yard in huge quantities; its exchange is carried out at the exchange yard from the first days of August to March. The purchase of rams for cash and exchange of bread is carried out by Cossacks and out-of-town traders, while many Guryev residents buy huge quantities of rams at barter yards in Uralsk and Orenburg. The annual purchase of rams extends to 400,000 head or more. Each owner sends the rams purchased at the exchange yard to the steppe for fattening. Why does each trader, to supervise the livestock, have clerks, workers and shepherds, mostly all Kyrgyz? The price of rams for purchase from February 1 to March is, counting all around, from 2 to 3 rubles per piece. In the spring in March, these cattle are driven away for sale to the Kalmykov fortress at a fair, located 240 versts from Guryev, where visiting nonresident Russian traders buy them at a price of 4 to 5 rubles apiece. In addition to sheep, Guryev residents buy horses, one-humped and two-humped, from the Kyrgyz trans-Ural horde, and cattle: cows, bulls, goats and goats, which are sent first to the steppe for fattening, and then driven away for sale in the spring, in March , to the Kalmykov Fortress for the fair and in the fall, in October, to Guryev for the fair. This trade is less significant against sheep farming.<…>The Cossacks are mostly engaged in the livestock trade, because they have the right to graze a certain number of heads of cattle duty-free on military land for fattening, according to their rank. The following military personnel can have a number of heads of duty-free cattle on military meadows for fattening, namely: headquarters officers, 1,500 rams and 210 cattle each, chief officers, 1,000 rams and 140 cattle each, lower ranks and minors performing duties, 500 rams and 70 cattle each. In addition to this amount, they pay an excise duty of 10 kopecks for all livestock, for cattle and 4 kopecks for ram per year.

Nonresident persons pay excise tax on each head of livestock they have in military meadows, for fattening or driving, 14 kopecks. from horse and cattle and 5 kopecks from ram; excise duty on livestock goes to military revenue.

After fishing and cattle breeding, there is the grain industry, which, due to the vastness of its turnover, can be called the main one in Guryev.

Rye flour, different types of wheat and oats are brought here by local Cossacks and non-residents from Astrakhan by sea and sold to residents of Guryev, while rye flour is sold to the Kyrgyz of the Trans-Ural hordes. Flour and oats are delivered from Astrakhan to Guryev in spring, summer and autumn, and from Uralsk in winter.<…>

The fair in Guryev happens once a year, in the fall, from October 25 to November 10. Merchants from Uralsk bring the following goods by land to the Guryev Fair: red goods, small goods, shoes, iron, honey, sugar, tea, coffee and tobacco. In addition to the Ural traders, Guryev traders also sell red goods, small goods, shoes, tea, sugar, coffee, spices, tobacco and wine at the fair. At this fair, in addition to goods, there is the sale of livestock, such as rams, cattle, camels and horses. This cattle is driven from the steppe by the Kirghiz of the Trans-Ural hordes, and some Cossacks and non-residents also bring it in for sale. Trading at the Guryev Fair is mainly carried out in red goods and livestock.<…>

Goods that are not produced in Guryev are brought from Astrakhan by sea, namely: bread, oats, cereals, wine, sugar, tea, coffee, spices, sweets, tobacco, red goods, shoes, iron, small goods, etc. The delivery of goods occurs in spring, summer and autumn, and the same goods are brought overland from Uralsk in winter. Goods are brought by non-resident persons and Cossacks, each for his own shop, while others supply goods to other traders, who do not travel from Guryev to Astrakhan and Nizhny Novgorod for the fair every year.<…>

All craftsmen and artisans are from other cities, and all trade shops, shops and establishments are run mostly by non-resident persons, while the Cossacks have only a few shops and establishments. Cossacks trade flour and oats from their houses, which have separate storerooms built from air bricks, called tents. The fish and seal that they bring in the winter from the Akhana fishery are also sold at home from their storerooms; Some Cossacks take fish to the market square and sell it there from carts. The sale of products and goods exported from Guryev and the purchase of goods and their delivery to Guryev are carried out by the local residents themselves.

Guryev. Plotovinskaya pier. Kyrgyz cab drivers waiting for passengers to disembark

There is no shipping company in Guryev, but in the spring 1 steamship from Astrakhan approaches Guryev, 3 times, 12 versts from the mouth of the Urals, near the island of Bolshoi Peshny, in the Caspian Sea, but the steamer cannot pass to Guryev itself due to shoals. For the first time, the steamer comes to Guryev from Astrakhan in mid-April and after 2 or 3 days leaves from Guryev to, where it carries from Guryev a hundred Ural Cossacks for two years, to relieve the local garrison; at the end of April, the steamer returns to Guryev for the 2nd time and brings Ural Cossacks who served their term of service in Fort Alexandrovsky; three days later the ship leaves for Astrakhan with passengers from Guryev and at the beginning or half of May it comes again to Guryev with passengers from Astrakhan, for the 3rd time, and three days later it leaves from Guryev with passengers to Astrakhan and does not arrive until the next of the year.

The number of sea vessels in Guryev, such as cusovo boats, salmovkas and others, cannot be determined accurately, but it can be said that almost every Guryev industrialist, Cossack and non-resident, has ships that in the spring, with the opening of navigation, depart from Guryev to Astrakhan with local products, such as fish, caviar, glue, seal, lard and skins. Some out-of-town traders leave Guryev in the summer for Nizhny Novgorod for a fair to buy various goods. In general, during the summer, the town of Guryev empties out significantly, because most of the residents leave there for this time. These ships come with goods from Astrakhan to Guryev in the summer and autumn, stopping at the Rakushecheya pier, where goods are unloaded from them, such as flour, cereals, oats, sugar, tea, coffee. Spices, sweets, wine and domestically prepared tobacco: leaf in bags and prepared in lined rooms. These goods are transported from the pier to Guryev by land by the owners themselves or by hiring Cossack cabs to transport them.<…>

In the literal sense, Guryev has no social life or entertainment at all. The majority of the residents in Guryev are military inhabitants: the lower ranks of them alone are on active service, and the majority are engaged in trades and trade, so they do not see how the year passes. In the spring they are busy hiring Cossacks for service, sending them to Kurkhai fishing at sea and going to Astrakhan to buy bread, oats and other goods there; in the summer they are free, spending most of their time idle and sleeping. At the end of summer, precisely from the 1st of August, they go to haymaking, where they work until September, while others at this time go to sea for hot fishing and return from it in the fall in October. From this time they are free until winter, some participate in autumn fishing along the Ural River, while most of the Cossacks are preparing for akhanna fishing at sea, in their houses there are chores and preparations, i.e. knitting akhans and nets, preparing provisions, fixing akhanna harnesses and hiring workers. These chores and work continue until winter; from morning until late evening they are busy. In winter, they go fishing in the sea, from where they return to Guryev on the 1st of March. After a miserable fishing trip, which involves a lot of money spent on fees, difficulty in fishing itself, in the middle of winter on the open sea, and danger in the depths, for which they are rewarded with good catches of large beluga sturgeons, through which their domestic circumstances are improved, the Cossacks again in April gather for spring Kurkhai fishing.

Thus, Guryev residents spend the entire year actively working and studying.

Of course, not all Guryev Cossacks literally spend the entire year studying; there are also those who do not go to all fishing trips, and there are Cossacks who do not go fishing at all, but earn their living in service or trade. Of these people, many have a lot of free time, which they spend in fun and drinking, while others even simply out of idleness get drunk in taverns, cellars and taverns.

Cossacks do not smoke tobacco at home and do not allow others to smoke in their premises, but in drinking establishments they themselves for the most part smoke, and on fisheries they also smoke; in Guryev, mainly from ordinary Cossacks, young people smoke tobacco, as well as Cossacks in active service.

Their families spend time at home on the farm. On holidays, Cossacks and Cossack women go to visit each other; they walk around Guryev, sit in groups near their houses and spend time talking. During Maslenitsa people ride horses through the streets and on the ice of the Ural River. On the bank of the Urals, in front of the ataman’s house (the Cossacks call the head of the Guryev town an ataman), a small pyramid with flags is built from layers of ice, 1½ fathoms high and 2 arshins wide, called town; The Cossacks, according to a long-standing custom, take this town by assault on horseback, for which purpose on the last day of Maslenitsa they place on this town, in a sealed barrel, a bucket and a half of vodka, bought by the chief at his own expense. Young Cossacks ride horses through the streets, some of them are dressed in officer's dress, and they are considered superiors over others; In addition, 5 Cossacks are appointed as the head of the city from the line command, who also travel with the children. Finally, at the signal given by the chief, they all soon ride on horseback past the town, destroy it with sticks, and the Cossack who distinguished himself in this matter receives a keg of vodka as a reward for his daring. In this case, it is not possible without one of the riders being bruised; usually the brave man who received the wine is bruised by a sheet of ice.

The home life of the Cossacks is quite boring and monotonous.

The noble persons of the military class - the officers who hold positions here, for the most part are wealthy people, they live in their houses quietly and modestly, and, for the most part, in mansions - sparingly and monotonously, even in some cases more boring than ordinary Cossacks; the circle of acquaintances consists of officials and wealthy Cossacks. Men for the most part wear a uniform dress, and women wear a common European dress; they wear a national costume on rare occasions. They spend their free time reading books and newspapers, visiting each other - playing cards and billiards, sometimes driving around the city and hunting game, but they do not know meetings and family evenings - everyone thinks about trading. In general, their life is boring and monotonous, without much worry, but also without much pleasure; for all that, in the Cossack noble circle there is isolation, as if one does not need the other.

Nonresidents are here: merchants, townspeople and peasants - all traders and artisans; They spend their time in trade, crafts, and traveling on their business to Astrakhan and Nizhny Novgorod. Their home life is the same as in other cities; They know each other and live friendly with the Cossacks. The number of civil officials here is very small; They spend their leisure time from classes reading books and newspapers, getting to know officers, playing cards and hunting; They don’t have evenings or meetings; in a word, their life is as full of boredom and uniformity as the life of the local Cossacks.

Cossacks love music and songs, their music is harmony, balalaika and guitar; The songs they use are: general Russian, historical, dating back to the times of Cossack self-government, military and local, about their native Yaik and the Caspian Sea.<…>Text taken from

All my friends and acquaintances who were born in Guryev will never call this city by another name. I don’t understand who and how could come up with the idea of ​​renaming a city with a 300-year history. Guryev was founded by this name and I am sure that this name will return to him sooner or later. The laws of history cannot be changed.

What happened in Kazakhstan in the 90s of the 20th century is just a repetition of Russia at the beginning of the last century. Well, then all the cities were renamed, these names lasted for 70 years and then everything returned to normal. It is impossible to imagine that the city of Samara, after renaming, will again become Kuibyshev or Ekaterinburg Sverdlovsk.

It doesn’t matter who lives in the city: Kazakh, Russian, Uzbek or Tatar. Our historical roots are stronger than people and they will one way or another change the opinions of those who will live in this city. Yes, maybe not in our lifetime, but absolutely, justice will be demanded and our city will regain its real, original name.

And we are real Guryev residents, we will continue to call our city Guryev and pass on this true name to our children. And our children, just like us, will call Guryev Guryev and not something else.

Not everyone is so lucky and not all children had the same childhood as the boys and girls born in Guryev. Our childhood, probably for almost all Guryev children, is inextricably linked with our river. We lived on the banks of the Ural River. From morning until late evening, my friends and I swam, fished, and even in modern times engaged in extreme sports: we tied a rope to a large concrete bridge, you can see it in the photo, swung and jumped into the water. And the most interesting thing is that none of the adults made any comments to us and we didn’t even see the police.

When we wanted to eat, so as not to waste time, we did not go home for lunch but ate fish that we caught in the river. If we didn’t have fishing rods, we simply collected shells that were scattered all over the shore, opened them and made something like a barbecue over a fire, or looked for crayfish under driftwood, then there were a lot of them. We had no idea about oysters then, but now I can say that our Guryev shells were much tastier. Yes, it was a homeless, dangerous childhood, but it was freedom, independence of choice, which our children absolutely do not have. We got this freedom from our parents and, frankly speaking, sometimes it was very cool, but this was not a reason to give up our, one might say, such a delicious wild life.

What happened to us there: while playing catch-up in the water, we choked and drowned, in the water we ran into metal snags left over from the construction of the bridge. Because we spent too much time in the water, we froze and our legs cramped and we drowned again. But we found a way out here too. Each of us had a pin in our underpants, which we used to pierce our legs in case of numbness (cramp). We lived like little Robinsons. And only when it got dark did we go home with apples stolen from the orchards stuffed in the bosom of our shirts. We received scoldings from our parents but the next day we did the same. And so all summer.

In winter we also fished on our river. When I tell my friends how in winter we could catch so many fish with a regular fishing rod that we had to sled it like a sack of potatoes, they don’t believe it. But it was true. And how we skated and played hockey. There was nothing better and more than hockey for me as a teenager. It's funny to say, but I was truly raving about hockey. Not all the kids had skates; back then we wore our father’s old ones, incredibly large. We put on more socks so that they would stay on our feet and shoot pucks onto the ice.

The dangers in winter were more serious than in summer. While playing hockey or fishing, we could get into a hole in the ice, fall through the ice and drown. And not all of us were lucky; not all of us could be saved by adults who arrived in time to the shore. Probably everyone remembers that someone you knew one way or another drowned. But these dangers did not stop us; we continued, without understanding it at all, to fight for our childhood freedom.

I want to express my deep gratitude to the people who made this video about our city. When I watched it for the first time............

Guryev town (Guryev) is a fortified settlement on the right bank of the Yaik, seven miles from its confluence with the Caspian Sea.

It was founded in 1647 by the Yaroslavl merchants Guryevs on the right bank of the Yaik, seven miles from the confluence with the Caspian Sea;

In 1662, the construction of a stone city fortress was completed here (also funded by the Guryevs).

In 1753, the town of Guryev with fortresses and outposts in the lower reaches of the Yaik moved from the Astrakhan province to the Orenburg province and was included in the possessions of the Yaik Cossack army. The population of Guryev on the eve of the Pugachev uprising did not exceed 200-250 people. There was a garrison in the fortress, headed by warrant officer I. Myakishin, whose team consisted of half a company of soldiers (55 people) with seven cannons (8). A hundred Yaik Cossacks, led by Ataman K.S. Filimonov, also served in the town.

On January 25, 1774, a detachment of the Pugachev ataman A.A. Ovchinnikov approached the Guryev town and, having stormed the fortress, with the support of the Guryev Cossacks, took possession of it. Four days later, Ovchinnikov set off from Guryev to the Yaitsky town, taking with him up to 30 local Cossacks and up to 60 pounds of gunpowder. Ovchinnikov entrusted the administration of the Guryev town to the local Cossack E. Strunyashev, promoting him to atamans (9). For more than three months, until the end of April 1774, Guryev was in the hands of the rebels. On May 1, the punitive team of Lieutenant Colonel B.D. Kandaurov, which arrived from Astrakhan, entered here and accepted complete surrender from Strunyashev (10).

In 1810 the fortress was abolished, and from 1865 it became a district town.

Guryev town (Guriev) is mentioned by Pushkin in the archival preparations for “The History of Pugachev” (1), in the text of the “History” itself, in draft fragments of its manuscript (2) and in his travel notebook (3). Information about Guryev is available in the sources of memoir and epistolary origin he used - “Chronicles” by P.I. Rychkov (4) and a letter from Captain A.P. Krylov dated May 15, 1774 (5). Cursory mentions of him are contained in the notes of I.S. Polyansky (6) and M.N. Pekarsky (7). Notes:
1. Pushkin. T.IX. pp. 530, 633, 638, 645, 651, 655, 662, 665, 717, 719;
2. Ibid. P.40, 76, 77, 87, 94, 100, 151, 409;
3. Ibid. P.493;
4. Ibid. P.286, 287, 296, 353;
5. Ibid. P.542;
6. Ibid. P.583;
7. Ibid. P.606;
8. Report of the Guryev commandant ensign I. Myakishin to the Astrakhan governor P. N. Krechetnikov dated January 16, 1774 - RGVIA. F.20. D.1232. L.221, 222;
9. Protocol of E. Strunyashev’s testimony during interrogation at the Yaitsk commandant’s office on December 1, 1774 - RGADA. F.349. D.7355. L.2-5 vol.;
10. Ovchinnikov R.V. Guryev Fortress // History of the USSR. 1970, no. 1. P.188-193.
The reference article is reprinted from the site http://www.orenburg.ru/culture/encyclop/tom2/tom2_fr.html (Authors and compilers of the encyclopedia: Doctor of Historical Sciences Reginald Vasilievich Ovchinnikov, Academician of the International Academy for the Humanization of Education Leonid Naumovich Bolshakov) Read here:
Toponymy of the Peasant War under the leadership of Emelyan Pugachev (index-reference book).
Peasant uprising of 1773-1775 (description of the event and biographical index).
Pugachev Emelyan Ivanovich +1775 - leader of the largest popular movement.
Decrees of Emelyan Pugachev (fragments).
Pushkin A.S. The story of Pugachev.
Pugachevites and punitive forces. Participants in the events of 1773-1775 (biographical index).

Nostalgia,
this is when you want to come back,
but nowhere.
"inpropart"

Welcome to a useful information site about the city of Atyrau.
We will try to collect and publish as much information as possible about Atyrau.

Atyrau is a city, regional center of the Atyrau region of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Located in the European (western) part of Kazakhstan, along the banks of the Ural River (at the time of its founding, it was located at the confluence of the river with the Caspian Sea, but moved away from it due to a drop in the level of the Caspian Sea).

History of the city of Atyrau

With his own money, a merchant from the city of Yaroslavl (an official of the living room of the hundred) Guriy Nazarov, at the mouth of the Yaik River at its confluence with the Caspian Sea in 1640, built a wooden fort near the Nogai fishing camp, for which Guryev paid tribute to the Nogai Khanate in the city of Sarai-Dzhuk. The founder's children - Mikhail, Ivan and Andrey Guryev - were the first to begin commercial development of the fish resources of Yaik and the oil reserves of Emba. Later the fort came under the rule of the Yaitsky Cossack army. In 1647-1648, by royal decree, a stone city was built, called the Yaitsky town, and after another Yaitsky town was built on the site of modern Uralsk, it began to be called the Nizhny Yaitsky town, less often - the Ust-Yaitsky town. In the 19th century it began to be called Guryev Town, later simply Guryev.

In 1667-68 the city was occupied by Stepan Razin. Later, Catherine II, in order to erase from the people’s memory all memories of the Pugachev uprising, renamed the Yaik into the Ural River.

In 1810-15 the city fortress was abolished and razed. Since 1865 - the center of the Guryev district of the Ural region.

Historically, the river divided the city into two parts: the “European” or “Samara” and the “Asian” or “Bukhara”, which was previously sparsely populated. The city was first built mainly on the Samara side. There, on the initiative of wealthy townspeople, a stone church was built, one of the first tall buildings of the old city. In 1991 the city was renamed Atyrau. At the beginning of 2010, the population of Atyrau was approx. 231,000 people. The city was founded on the coast, but is now 25-30 km away from it. The first oil refining plants and an oil equipment plant were built here, as well as the largest fish canning plant in the Republic. Atyrau, namely the Emben oil-bearing region, became the center of the oil industry of Kazakhstan. 50 km from the city are the ruins of the medieval city of Sarayjuk (XVI-XVII centuries).

Merchant houses are the same as Astrakhan ones. The first floor is a stone semi-basement, and the 2nd floor is wooden. The bulk of the houses are adobe (adobe) huts. The first bridge across the Urals appeared before the war. It was pontoon, and in order to carry barges with cargo up the river, a section on pontoons was set aside in the middle of the bridge.
Monument to Isatai Taimanov and Makhambet Utemisov in Atyrau

The city began to expand in the 1930s with the construction of a fish canning plant and its residential area - Balyksha. Then there was the evacuation of industrial enterprises here during the Great Patriotic War and the construction of an oil refinery - GNPZ with its own residential complex - Zhilgorodok. All these enterprises settled on the opposite side of the city - Bukhara. The pontoon bridge could no longer cope with the increased load, and in the mid-1960s a permanent reinforced concrete bridge on bulls was built. In the middle of the bridge, a memorial sign was erected about the border between Europe and Asia. The whole city participated in the discussion of his project on the pages of the regional newspaper.
The Ural River in the center of Atyrau

With the construction of the Guryev-Astrakhan railway, a railway bridge across the Urals and a new station were built. This road provided the shortest route from the south of Central Asia (Dushanbe, Termez, Bukhara, Chardzhou, Nukus, Kungrad, Beineu) and from Mangyshlak to the European part of the country. The city grew and improved. A new airport has emerged that accepts modern aircraft: Tu, IL, AN. Now it is a city of eight bridges: a railway bridge, six road bridges, and one specially built as a pedestrian bridge.

Guryev was the center of a huge region. In the south, the border with Turkmenistan ran along the Kara-Bogaz-Gol Bay itself. In the east, the Guryev region bordered on Uzbekistan (Karakalpakstan) and the Aktobe region, in the north - on the Ural region, and in the west - on the Astrakhan region. With the beginning of the development of the natural resources of Mangyshlak (oil, gas, uranium ore) and the construction of the city of Shevchenko (now Aktau), the region was divided into Guryevskaya and Mangyshlakskaya.

The entire Soviet Union participated in the development of these regions and their centers of Guryev and Shevchenko. Many historical milestones and events that Guryev witnessed are captured in the names of its streets. Stepan Razin and his Cossacks passed here several times, and Emelyan Pugachev visited. Accordingly, there are Razin and Pugachev streets, Abai Avenue, named after the famous educator of the Kazakh people Abai Kunanbaev, Mukhtar Auezov Street, who wrote a book about him, Chokan Valikhanov Street.

On October 4, 1991, the Guryev City Council of People's Deputies renamed the city Atyrau.

In 1999, the 100th anniversary of Kazakh oil was widely celebrated, and the city of Atyrau, at the instigation of President Nazarbayev, began to be called the “oil capital” of Kazakhstan in the press.

Atyrau

Atyrau city total 198529 urban 170971 rural 27558 people (2005)
Atyrau (formerly Guryev)
Aksai s.o.
Aksay village 1372
Akzhar village 2831
village Blizhny Podkhoz 549

Atyrau s.o.
Atyrau village 1889
village Zhanatalap 1721
Kurmangazy village 1830
Balykshinskaya p.a.
Balykshi village
a.Akzhayik 1920
a. Vodnikovo 767
a.Kokarna 1193
a. Kursai 2252
Geological S.O.
Geologist village 4832
village Birlik 1998
st. Karabatan 139
Novokirpichnoe village 173
section 496 65
st.Tendyk 181
Dambinsky s.o.
Damba village 824
village Peshnoy 74
village Amangeldy 1847
Erkinkalinsky s.o.
Erkinkala village 2776
LLP "Nargis" vegetable growing

Rakusha village 1491
Zhumyskerskaya p.a.
Zhumysker village
a.Rembaza 3091
Kenuzeksky s.o.
village Taskala 1952
Kairshakhtinsky s.o.

Tomarly village 3372
PC TENDYK BIZHANOV TUMANBAI TULEMISOVICH S. TOMARLY 5-21-10 Breeding and raising camels

Besikty village 813
village Talkairan 921

G. Atyrau
Population 170,971 (2005)

Atyrau

A brief description of.

The city of Atyrau is the center of the Atyrau region, located on the Ural River and founded in 1640. The territory of the city is 3.5 thousand sq. km. The distance from the city of Atyrau to the city of Astana is 1810 km. The climate is sharply continental and arid. Summer is dry, long, hot; winter with little snow and cold.

As of January 1, 2006, the population of the city administration was 203.2 thousand people.

Industry.

As of January 1, 2006, industrial enterprises of all forms of ownership produced products worth 77,478.0 million tenge, the physical volume index amounted to 119.7%.

Agriculture.

In 2005, meat was produced in live weight 2169.0 tons (101.2% compared to 2004), milk 3603.0 tons (107.1%), eggs 179.0 thousand pieces (102.3%) As of 01.01 .2006 The livestock population was: cattle - 7730 heads (133.7% compared to 2004), sheep and goats - 9116 (109.1%), horses - 699 (133.7%), camels - 1436 (105.4%).

As part of the current work, an inventory of the lands of agricultural entities is carried out, orders are issued to re-register land use rights, and an inventory of vehicles and agricultural equipment on the balance sheet of agricultural enterprises in township and rural districts is issued.

An agreement was reached with market leaders to provide 30 retail spaces to agricultural enterprises in the city for the sale of meat and to reduce prices for renting retail outlets. In order to expand the network of storage bases for agricultural products, 2 land plots were provided for the construction and operation of a vegetable storage facility.

Entrepreneurship.

As of 01/01/2006 16,004 small businesses are registered in the city. The number of people employed in small business was 32.9 thousand people, or 111.5% compared to 2004. The volume of products produced and services provided by this sector of the economy amounted to 63,305.6 million tenge, which is 79.7% more than the volume of 2004.

As of January 1, 2006, the Pilot Center for Microcredit issued 580 group loans totaling 178.8 million tenge.

3 international exhibitions were held at the Atyrau sports complex.

Last year, regional examination and certification bodies conducted a survey of production conditions at 49 small and medium-sized enterprises and issued 61 certificates of conformity for products, including bakery, culinary products, fish products, building materials, and various chemicals.

Construction.

The volume of investments in fixed capital for 2005 amounted to 476,087.0 million tenge, which is 2.3 times more than in 2004. The total area of ​​commissioned housing was 306.4 thousand square meters, or 34.9% more than in 2004.

8 new facilities have been put into operation, and 11 housing construction projects are at the completion stage. Among the social facilities, this year it is planned to complete the construction of the 5-star Marriott hotel and the Ardager hypermarket.

Financial activities. As of 01/01/2006, the receipt of taxes and payments to the budget amounted to 39,582.9 million tenge (26,653.0 million tenge in 2004) with a forecast of 39,517.6 million tenge, implementation - 100.2%. The revenue side of the local budget was fulfilled by 100.6% (forecast - 12296.7 million tenge, actual - 12365.1 million tenge).

As of December 1, 2005 the level of receivables amounted to 279668.0 million tenge (including overdue 10205.4 million tenge) and exceeded the same figure last year by 3 times. The level of accounts payable amounted to 950642.0 million tenge (including overdue 2114.7 million tenge) and exceeded the same figure last year by 3.1 times. Arrears - 922.6 million tenge (1263.8 million tenge in the corresponding period of last year).

Employment policy.

As of January 1, 2006, the total number of economically active population was 102.5 thousand people. The official unemployment rate is 0.8%. Since the beginning of the year, 865 people were sent for training, which is 105.5% compared to 2004, 1,177 people (101.9%) were sent to public works, 2,940 people (2.2 times) were employed.

In the city in 2005, TSA was assigned to 376 low-income families (1,615 people); they were paid 2.7 million tenge. A resolution was adopted by the city akimat on the lifelong exemption of participants and disabled people of the Great Patriotic War from paying for utilities (heat, water, gas and electricity), communication services in terms of subscription fees.

Law and order.

As of 01/01/2006, 2093 crimes were registered in the city (2169 were registered as of 01/01/2005), of which 403 were serious (505). The detection rate by the criminal police is 56.9% (47.0%). The crime rate per 10 thousand people is 106.8%.

In order to prevent child crime and neglect, operational and preventive measures are being carried out throughout the city: “Everyday Life”, “Player”, “Supervision”, etc. 999 minors were detained, of which 105 were teenagers for committing an administrative violation. 121 were placed in the temporary adaptation center, 79 materials were sent to the commission for the protection of the rights of minors. 461 minors from 181 disadvantaged families were put on preventive registration.

Yes, this is the same city where there is sturgeon and caviar, where oil and gas are produced.

GURYEV (since 1992 Atyrau), city, center of the Guryev (Atyrau) region, on the northern coast of the Caspian Sea, on the river. Ural; River port; railway station 149 thousand inhabitants. It arose in 1640, when the Guryev merchants built a wooden fort to protect trade routes from the Yaik Cossacks. Sturgeon and caviar were exported from Guryev to Moscow. In 1667 - 68 captured by the rebels S. T. Razin; in 1752 it was annexed to the Yaitsk army, in 1810 the fortress was abolished. Since 1865 a county town. S. 1938 center of Guryev region

In modern Guryev: oil refining, chemical, engineering. - builds factories, meat processing plants; Fishing industry software. Pedagogical Institute. Theater. Historical and Local Lore Museum. The building of the first Council of Deputies has been preserved. Monuments: V.I. Lenin, members of the Council of Deputies, the Unknown Soldier. Grave of the Kazakh people. composer (akyn) K. Sagyrbaev. The ancient settlement of Saraydzhuk (16th - 17th centuries) is located 50 km north of Guryev. The vicinity of Guryev is a mud-healing area (medicinal mud of Lake Karabotan is used).

Several centuries ago, on the site of the city of Atyrau, the waves of the huge Khvalynsk (Caspian) Sea splashed.

The voices of people were heard more and more often along its shores. The river, rich in fish, with coastal forests and good pastures, was a convenient place for nomadic tribes to stop. Since 1580, the first Cossack settlers appeared on the river bank. In 1640, the merchant Mikhailo Guryev and his brothers, with the help of the Astrakhan governor, erected a wooden fort at the mouth of the Zhaiyk, which was intended to protect the rich fishing grounds of large fisheries owners.
Above the fort, an uchug, salting, smoking and other structures were built; Fisherman settlements began to appear around the fortress. This was the beginning of the Yaitsky town, as Guryev, or Nizhny Yaitsk, was called until 1708 (Uralsk was the Upper Yaitsk). The local population called the city Uishuk.

In pre-revolutionary times, Guryev was a city of fishermen and merchants. Along the river there were good-quality houses decorated with wooden lace. In winter, the city was cut off from the outside world due to snowstorms and drifts. Communication with Astrakhan and Uralsk was established only in the summer.

The history of the city can be traced through its architecture.

On the street Shevchenko now houses the city library building, built in 1914-1915 with public funds for the building of the Temperance Society. After the revolution, until 1934, this building housed the oil workers' club "Gornyak".

Post office building on the street. Pugachev was built for the cinema "Mirror of Life".
On the street Pugachev there was a social club. This building had a large veranda along the façade. On holidays, a military brass band played there. There is probably not a citizen in Atyrau who does not know about the existence of Sutyagin’s garden. At one time, it was a unique corner of fruit trees and shrubs in the lower reaches of the Urals, a kind of laboratory for growing apple, pear, quince, and plum trees on saline lands.

After the revolution, Guryev became the center of the region's oil industry, the base of geological exploration and prospecting expeditions searching for oil, gas and other natural resources in the vast expanses of the Caspian Sea. Nowadays the city is a center of scientific thought, designed to ensure the priority development of the region's oil industry. There are organizations in the city involved in the development of oil fields, construction of housing and social and cultural facilities.

In recent years, the city has become prettier, modern streets have appeared, multi-storey residential buildings have grown, microdistricts have spread, and new enterprises have appeared. From the height of the bridge, the river embankments and the beach and the Oil Workers' House of Culture are clearly visible. On the opposite European bank of the Urals, the white stone building of the regional akimat seems to be floating in the air. Here is the main square of the city, the place for solemn processions and ceremonies.

The city looks best in the evening, when the sun sets below the horizon, turning the sky crimson, and the river blows cool and fresh...

Source
Office of Akim of Atyrau region
www.atyrau-city.kz Information and educational site of the city of Atyrau (Guriev), Republic of Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan, Atyrau, Guryev, Caspian Sea, Caspian Lowland, Northern Caspian Sea, Ural River, geography, population, minerals, nature, history, transport, oil, gas, fish, black caviar, education, health, culture, capital, photo album

Lit.: Ignatov F. Delyatov K., Orenburg - Caspian. Essay - guidebook, A. - A., 1978.

http://www.atyrau.freenet.kz/ Website of Atyrau