In the report of Tazhin the important idea was to determine the principal values and orientations in the study of history of Kazakhstan. The necessity of preserving culture on the nation, which include language, spirituality, traditions and culture, was mentioned on it. For me as a historian, who works at University, also relevant the conclusions and suggestions given in this forum.
So I want to share my impressions seen during the trip to England. As the great Abay said: "Try to learn something useful that you have seen in a good man". I am deeply convinced that the true trip from July 10th to 18th took place due to our independence. In Soviet times this was just a dream.
From childhood I was a big fan of English literature, I was reading novels of R. Stevenson, D. Defoe, W. Stott, Charles Dickens and A. Doyle. So I always dreamed to be in the motherland of these great writers. In July 10, 2013, I was in London the capital of Britain. What I have seen in London impressed me. "If you are tired of London that means you are tired to live, because it has everything that you can expect from life",- wrote S. Johnson in the 18th century. Today London is the large cosmopolitan city with an area about 1600 square meters. According to 2012data, about 8 millions of people live in the city.
A distinctive feature of English people, in my opinion, is surprising care of their past, historical places and cultural monuments. That is why we need to learn from this remarkable people. Central streets and historical monuments, by the way, so many of them in the city, remind to everyone about famous women and men, who created London that every generation discovers a new for themselves. I believe, that our Astana, the brainchild of President, also eventually become one of the beautiful cities in the world.
The history of London, recorded in the documents dates back to the time when Westminster was swamp. The Romans settled in what is now City district, around 60s AD, built a bridge across the Thames and created famous shopping center, which attracted many traders.
Today all wonderful attractions of London, magnificent palaces, churches Westminster Palace, House of Parliament, the Government, the residence of Queen Elizabeth II, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, the clock tower of Big Ben, whose height is 96 meters, located on the left side of the Thames. All this complex of historical monuments can be seen from the bird's eye view, on the London Eye, the rising on the miracle of 21st century. This wheel with height the 140 meters, made from the image of wheel of bicycle, has 32 capsules. Each capsule allocated for 20 people. The wheel works 16 hours a day. Speaking about the main attractions of the city, I consider it necessary to begin my story about the famous Westminster Palace in London, where the British Parliament with its two chambers: the House of Lords and House of Commons. First palace was built for King Edward the Confessor, who came to throne in 1042.
English Parliament began its work in 1265. Since 1550 the House of Commons and House of Lords held separately in the ornate chapel of St. Stephen. At this time, the splendor of Westminster Hall was completed with amazingly beamed ceiling and different figures of angels. When in 1669 Charles II was ascended to the throne, the skull of Oliver Cromwell on the peak was installed on the roof, where it remained for 25 years. Certainly, today nobody would be surprised for such abusing attitude of the O. Cromwell's personality the representatives of Stuart dynasty. Indeed, no one else as this outstanding figure of English bourgeois revolution who first challenged the holy of hollies, to the monarchy of that time, which eventually led Charles to scaffold.
However, times and English people have changed, giving tribute to O. Cromwell, they set remarkable monument in front of the Parliament, where his bronze figure stands next to the statue of Richard the Lionheart. Westminster Abbey, the masterpiece of English architecture, located near the Parliament. Next to the Abbey there is a monument dedicate to the Winston Churchill. His name was pronounced with trepidation among the large population of the UK. In 2002, among the English was made survey in order to determine the top 100 British people, the results showed that first place was given to Churchill. Certainly, W. Churchill was contradictory politician. We are well aware of his attitude toward the Soviet Union.
He considered as the founder of so-called “Cold War”. However, at the same time he made an enormous contribution to the victory of their allies in World War II. In the most difficult moments of the war he remained with his people. In May 1940, he became a Prime minister of the national coalition government. In his famous speech during the inauguration, he said: “I have nothing to offer you but blood, fight, tears and sweat”. As for the Westminster Abbey, for British people it is considered as one of the sacred places, because it is clearly represents noble, political and aristocratic history of the country. The tombs of kings, queens, poets, politicians and church leaders located there. The grave of W. Churchill decorated with marble slabs and located next to the grave of the Unknown Soldier.
From the Westminster Abbey begins one of the famous streets of London Downing Street. House 210 in Downing Street is known for its long service, 250 years, as a residence of British prime ministers. This building has been witnessed many well-known events of each era, from riots to suffragettes, chained themselves to the gates and celebration of Sir Winston Churchill at the end of the war. In recent times in this house worked Prime Minister Lady Margaret Thatcher. Downing Street leads to Whitehall, where the government ministries hold official parades and annual festivities at the Cenotaph, which was created in memory of the soldiers who died in the First World War. Anyone who has visited England, easily notice how the people of this country attached great importance to the perpetuation of their national heroes.
In this regard, only the column of Admiral T. Nelson installed on the famous Trafalgar Square worth a lot. His meteoric career and rank of admiral, he primarily obliged to respect that showed in relation to his sailors. English fleet commended by Nelson defeated the French fleet at Trafalgar in October 21, 1805. In the speech to the crew before the battle, Nelson said: “England expects that every one of us will perform their duty”. In this battle, Nelson died from received injuries.
At the same Trafalgar Square there is a monument to another national hero of England Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, who commended the British troops in the war against Napoleon. “Iron Duke” inflicted a crushing defeat to Napoleon in 1815 at Waterloo. Among many monuments there is a statue of Boudicca, installed in front of the House of Lords as a symbol of courage and indomitable spirit of the British people. Boudicca was the leader of the rebellion against the British Roman legionaries in the 1st century AD. It would be nice to set monuments to our female-heroines like the leader of SaksTomiris, Kipchak warrior Razia and sister of Kenesary Bopay.
Among the attractions of London the numerous royal palaces take exceptional place. Residence of the British Queen Elizabeth II is the famous Buckingham Palace, which is surrounded by a huge garden with numerous royal and historical sites and monuments.
In front of the Buckingham Palace there is a monument dedicated to Queen Victoria (1819-1901), whose name is related with the whole era. She was the Queen of the United Kingdom and Ireland, from 1876 the Empress of India. The Queen Victoria was a stubborn and persistent person, she had nine children. She had a sharp min, which helped her to manage the country. Her long reign contributed to the creation of a “democratic monarchy”, strengthening the monarchy itself. Opposite to the Buckingham Palace there are royal stables, royal car park and museum of the royal family. In the car park exhibited royal chariots and cars, the beauty and originality of which impossible to convey in words, they just need to be seen. All these vehicles are made by world-class masters and bear the imprints of different eras, begin with 15th century to the present day.
The constant object of any tour around London is magnificent Westminster Cathedral, built by the architect William Bentley in Byzantine style. The building was built of red brick with strips of gray Portland stone. For interior decoration has been used more than hundred different types of marble from quarries around the world.
In the tower from the observation gallery that is open for visits, given spectacular views of London. The cathedral that according to legend preserved authentic fragments of the Cross, St. Thomas Canterbury’s chapel, St. George, British martyrs, saints of Ireland and Scotland. Something that every street of London being the carrier of historical events that we have seen during the sightseeing. With the help of a guide, we have learned what part of the city and on what streets lived great writers like Charles Dickens, Arthur Conan Doyle, great musicians and philanthropists Sir D. Lennon and Sir McCartney. We visited the famous Sherlock Holmes pub on Baker Street. The story about the sights of the capital would be incomplete if we did not show our impressions from what we have seen around the St. Paul’s Cathedral, which is the residence of the bishop of London and spiritual center of the City. It is known that, architect Christopher Wren was watching the construction of the Cathedral from the windows of the house, which located opposite to the bank of the Thames. From where he could see how in the hilltop was created his masterpiece.
Cathedral, that became a place of wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana in 198, is famous for its dimensions: its length is 574 feet and the height of the building from the floor to the top of the Cross is 965 feet. Architect Wren, died at the age 91, was buried in the cathedral of St. Paul. In his life he built about 50 beautiful churches in London. Admiral Nelson and Duke Wellington also were buried in the Cathedral. The significance of the cathedral for the English says the following fact: During the war, Winston Churchill every morning asked whether Cathedral of St. Paul is survived after the bombing by German planes. Certainly, London, Oxford and Manchester are magnificent cities, which we were able to visit, in terms of beauty and originality of architecture and urban development, also preservation and enhancement of historical monuments.
Nevertheless, in our opinion, the most important wealth of the city is its multinationality, which speaks in the same English language. Culture of the people is being at a high level. This can be seen with the naked eye. Even strangers do not forget great each other when they meet.
In stores, public places, transport, outdoors and everywhere people behave themselves decently. In short, respect to person, to his requests and needs is in the first place.
Despite that streets in England are no distinguish latitude, there are no traffic jams and drivers are very respectful to each other. During our stay there I never heard beeps and signals of vehicles. Beeping considered as bad manner, the fact of absence of culture.
What I saw in London prompted me to the following thoughts: we also should protect, preserve and enhance its historic sites and monuments, create new ones. Unfortunately, well started work in conduction of archaeological excavations was stopped. The region has a lot of Sarmatian burial mounds. Also there are unique historical objects of the Middle Age like Korgansha town, where Hasan Kaigy lived in 15th century, that witnessed in the works of zhyrau M. Monkeuly and Shyniyaza.
As for M. Monkeuly, we have to admit with great sadness that we have now reigned in unexplained silence. No one remembers that last year he would have turned 170. His work at the time interested S.Seifullin, M.Auezov, S. Mukanov and H. Dosmukhamedov advised to contact Murat creativity for those who want to study the history of the Kazakhs.
S. Seifullin, M. Auezov and S. Mukanov at their time were interested in his works. H. Dosmukhamedov advised Murat’s work for those who want to study the history of the Kazakhs.
Therefore I consider that it is necessary to perpetuate the name of our compatriot, the famous singer of Kazakh history Murat Monkenuly, by setting a monument to him in center of the region. I hope that my offer will be supported by appropriate authorities of the region.
