A small town Fort-Shevchenko is one of the oldest settlements on the peninsula Mangyshlak - former outpost on the border. Despite the modest size, it breathes with history. There are many attractions and several unique museums.
Historical Museum of Fisheries and Ethnography of Mangyshlak is located in the center of the city, next to the "Tarasov garden", in the building of original construction. The building of the museum is stylized as a Kazakh yurt and decorated with national ornaments. Architects and builders had done very well with the task, that you could not differentiate it from the real yurt.
The interior of the museum was made with great skills of folk craftsmen. Visitors are dazzled by bright colors of ornaments and intricate patterns at the entrance to the hall. Unique exhibits are stored. Visitors can see things that are carefully passed from hand to hand by generation and it decorates with fabulous beauty of harsh steppe people of Mangyshlak.
The exposition of the museum is located in three small cozy rooms. Today, museum collection had few thousand items. Most of them are genuine, and they are exhibited in the halls of museum. The entire part of the exhibition is divided into three thematic halls - fisheries, history and ethnography.
Fisheries hall is a proud and unique brand of the museum. Presented unique original exhibits tell about the development of fisheries and fishing in Mangyshlak. These fishing boats, nets, authentic vintage tackle - all were necessary for fishermen in their difficult and hard labor time.
Historical Hall presents a large collection of artifacts, which relates to the history of Mangyshlak from ancient times till the present day. Here gathered a small collection of archaeological findings of this area. Documents and photographs reflect the history of the region in new periods and others.
Ethnography hall can boast with a unique collection of exhibits. As it is called ethnographic, it has a huge collection of artifacts, which tells about the life and culture of local people. Kazakh national culture and daily life of ordinary nomads attract the attention of visitors. The museum has exhibits as: wool and felt wares, leather, wood, korzhyn, fur coats (ton), leather pants (ter shalbar) and headgear.
A separate part of the exhibition has tableware from leather of animals made by folk artists. For dairy and water products - torsyk, saba, mes, kauga. Near is presented vessels from a tree - agash ayak. Chests, cabinets, cradles, simple doors wonder visitors with decorated imagination and skill of the Kazakh artisans.
National ornament carries more aesthetic and meaning. One of the exhibits can be called unique. Two pigeons were carved on the bright shell rock by ancient masters. Legend tells that this stone was standing on the grave of batyr (knight), who gave his life for freedom of native land. People memorized his exploits through the time.
Museum staff works hard and collects artifacts which relate to the history and culture of the region. Fisheries Museum of History and Ethnography Mangyshlak is called as one of the most unique and original thematic museums of Kazakhstan.
The largest museum of Taras Shevchenko, outside of Ukraine, is located in the small town of Fort-Shevchenko, Mangyshlak, Kazakhstan. The city was named after the famous Ukrainian poet, who was exiled here in 1850-1857.
Mangystau Regional Museum of Local History is one of the largest museums in Kazakhstan. The museum was founded in 1975; collections are about the history, archeology, ethnography, nature and culture of the region. There are more than 52 thousand exhibits, the best of which are represented in halls, consist of departments of nature, archeology, history and ethnography, and contemporary history.