Museum in Rushan Cave

On a hot July day in 1978, the new Historical and Local History Museum of Osh, housed within a winding complex of 13 caves and with an exhibition area of 752 square metres, was opened on Suleiman Mountain!

A tunnel leads to the entrance of the museum, where you can feel the coolness of the vast mountain interior. The ground floor of the museum consists of multiple caves on the southern slope of Rushan, one of the five peaks of Suleiman Mountain. In order to immerse visitors in the atmosphere of the caves, the Mailuu-Suu Electric Light Factory specially made lamps resembling stalactites to hang from the museum ceiling. The upper hall consists of  a natural cave, complete with preserved cave paintings.

The first room of the museum depicts the rich spiritual culture of southern Kyrgyzstan, where fire-worshipping cults intertwined with shamanism, the Muslim heritage of the Arab Caliphates and the Nestorian crosses of the Church of the East. A unique mummy of a noblewoman found in Batken occupied a special place among the exhibits. The route to the first floor begins with a narrow passage, where taxidermy animals native to Kyrgyzstan are exhibited.

A great contribution to the creation of the museum exhibition was made by the archaeologist Bakyt Amanbayeva of the Institute of History and Cultural Heritage of the National Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz Republic, who continues her work on the study of the history of Osh.

In 1982, the museums on Suleiman Mountain were merged into a single historical and cultural museum-reserve. In 2004, it was transformed into the Suleiman Mountain National Historical and Archaeological Museum Complex.

The originator of the museum project was architect Kubanychbek Nazarov, member of the Union of Architects of the USSR and Chairman of the Osh branch of the Union of Architects of the Kyrgyz SSR. He is also known for the creation of the monument in honour of the 50^th anniversary of the Kyrgyz SSR, situated in the plaza at the foot of Suleiman Mountain, and for constructing the first seven-storey building in Osh.

There is a story that originally, city planners hoped to open a restaurant in the caves. But this initiative did not receive support from the townspeople because of the sacred status of Suleiman Mountain. The area in front of the museum used to be popular with wedding processions until cars were banned from passing there. Today, everyone climbs the mountain on foot.