Kokshetau

Historically, several names in various languages have identified Kokshetau.

• Stanitsa Kokchetavskaya (1827–1868; which is a romanized back-transliteration from Russian name in Cyrillic: стани́ца Кокчетавская; Kazakh: Көкшетау бекінісі, lit. 'The village of Kokshetau')
• Kokchetav (1868–1993; in publications dating from the Soviet period, the city name was occasionally spelled in English as "Kokchetav", which is a back-transliteration from post-revolution Russian name in Cyrillic: Кокчета́в, Russian name in Cyrillic script (1868-1918): Кокчѣтавъ; Kazakh name in Yañalif script (1929-1940): Kɵkşetau, Kazakh name in Cyrillic script (after 1940): Көкшетау)
• Kokshetau (since 1993; which is a romanized back-transliteration from Russian name in Cyrillic: Кокшета́у; Kazakh name in Cyrillic script: Көкшетау, Kazakh name in Latin script (new version before 2021): Kókshetaý, Kazakh name in Latin script (latest version of the Kazakh Latin alphabet after 2021): Kökşetau)

A satellite image of the city and its vicinities as seen by US Corona satellite on September 26, 1969.

Kokshetau is located in the country of Kazakhstan and lies in the northern portion of Akmola Region. The city is located on the border of the West Siberian Plain, on the southeastern shore of Lake Kopa, at an altitude of 234 meters above sea level, in the Kokshetau Mountains, north part of the Kokshetau Hills, the foothills of which surround the city from the south and west. It covers an area of 234 km² (90 sq mi). It is located about 300 kilometres (190 mi) north-west of the national capital of Astana.

The city lay along low hills and by a kidney-shaped lake. There are numerous hills in the vicinity of the city (Bukpa Hill). The city is located in the flat part of the interfluve of the Kylshakty river, flowing in the eastern part of the city, and the Shagalaly river, flowing from the western side of the city. The city has several parks and gardens. Also, within the city limits can be found small forests, mostly consisting of birches and pine plantations. The Kokshetau area is known for its two national parks, Burabay and Kokshetau.

The time offset from the UTC used by Kokshetau is 6 hours after UTC, or UTC+6:00 (ALMT). This is also used by most of Kazakhstan. This time apply throughout the year as Kazakhstan does not observe Daylight saving time (DST).

A map of Zerendi District of Akmola Region. The white area in the middle indicates Kokshetau City Administration territorial unit.

Kokshetau is divided into seven administrative districts.

Listed alphabetically

• Aul
• Beybitshilik
• Bostandyk
• Bukpa
• Kokshe
• Sary-Arka
• Zhaylau

Traditionally, Kokshetau was divided into seventeen administrative microdistricts (Kazakh: шағын аудан) that today have no administrative function:

English name	Kazakh name	Russian name
City Centre	Қала орталығы	Центр города
Barmashino	Бармашино	Бармашино
Abylai Khan Avenue	Абылай хан даңғылы	Проспект Абылай-хана
Regional hospital	Облыстық аурухана	Областная больница
Birlik	Бірлік	Бирлик
Saryarka	Сарыарқа	Сарыарка
Sunkar	Сұнқар	Сункар
Koktem	Көктем	Коктем
Vasilkov	Васильков	Васильковский
Town of builders	Құрылысшылар қаласы	Городок строителей
Railway Station	Вокзал	Вокзал
Jubilee	Юбилейный	Юбилейный
Khassenov Market	Хасен базары	Хасеновский рынок
Central	Орталық	Центральный
Zhaylau	Жайлау	Жайлау
Shanghai	Шанхай	Шанхай

Kokshetau is the capital of the Akmola Region. Kokshetau city administration (Kazakh: Kökşetau qalasy äkımdıgı, Russian: Городская администрация Кокшетау) (area of 425 km² [164 sq mi]), with a population of roughly 165 153 residents, includes one settlement administration and the Krasnoyarsk rural district, which includes two rural settlements. On the eastern side of Abai Qunanbaiuly Street sits the Akmola Regional Akimat, in a modern cream and brown-toned building. Kokshetau was the centre of a region covering seventy-eight thousand square kilometres of the Virgin Lands; it administered 15 agricultural districts and connected 4 other towns, 116 state farms, and 25 collective farms, and that region encompassed a population of more than 600,000.

Administrative divisions of the Kokshetau City Administration

No.	Populated place	Population	KATO ID
1	selo of Krasny Yar	9875	111033100
2	p.g.t of Stantsyonny	2623	111037100
3	selo of Kyzylzhulduz	65	111033300

The Akim (Kazakh: әкім, äkım) of Kokshetau is the chief authority in the city of Kokshetau. The position was established in 1992.

According to the Köppen climate classification, Kokshetau lies in a cold semi-arid climate zone (Köppen climate classification: BSk) with extreme continental influences. The city has an extreme continental climate with long, very cold, frigid, snowy, dry winters and warm, dry, sunny summers (featuring occasional brief rain showers). Winter is frosty and long (more than 5 months). In spring, prevails clear and dry weather, with a large number of sunny days. Autumn begins in August or September, and the weather is observed from clear at the beginning of the season, to cloudy in October–November. The average annual temperature in Kokshetau is 3.6 °C (38.5 °F). Summer temperatures occasionally reach 35 °C (95 °F) while −30 to −35 °C (−22 to −31 °F) is not unusual between mid-December and early March.

The warmest month is July with daily mean temperature near 20.5 °C (68.9 °F), and the coldest month is January, with a daily mean of −14 °C (7 °F). Snow and ice are dominant during the winter season. July is the wettest month (averaging 68.5 mm (2.7 in) of precipitation) while March is the driest (averaging 10.5 mm (0.4 in) of precipitation). Yearly precipitation amounts to 313 mm (12.3 in). Typically, the city's Lake Kopa and rivers of Kylshakty and Shagalaly are frozen over between the second week of November and the beginning of April.

As of January 2022, the population of Kokshetau is 150,649, and the extended urbanized area has 165,153 inhabitants.

Historically, Kokshetau was ethnically diverse. As of the 2020 Census, ethnic Kazakhs made up (~58%) of the city population, representing an increase from 36% in 1999. The ethnic makeup of the city's population as of year 2020 was:[19]

In 1989, Kokshetau had a population of 136,757. The ethnic mix was about 18.5% Kazakh, 54.5% Russian and 27.0% other ethnic groups.

Kazakh and Russian are both the main spoken languages.

Kokshetau is one of the most religiously diverse cities of Kazakhstan. Islam (primarily Sunni Islam) is the predominant religion within Kokshetau, with 56.65% of residents identifying as Muslims in the 2009 Census. There were 83,436 Muslims reported in the 2009 census. Kokshetau's first Mosque was established by Ablay (Abilkhair) Gabbas in 1846.

Other religions practiced are Christianity (primarily Russian Orthodox, Roman Catholicism, and Protestantism).[21] Christianity is Kokshetau's second largest religion. There were 60,168 Christians reported in the 2009 census. Much of Kokshetau's civic life and civil society is secular in the sense that it has no religious character.

Kokshetau has a mosque constructed in the beginning of the 20th century and a Russian Orthodox Church temple of Archangel Michael. The Kokshetau and Akmola diocese is located in the Church of the Resurrection in the city. In 1997, a Roman Catholic Church was built in neo-Gothic style using red bricks. A new mosque for 1,200 people named after Nauan Hazrat opened in 2015.

Mosques:

• Nauan Hazrat Mosque (capacity 1,200—1,400), located at the corner of Momishuly and Auelbekov streets. It is the largest mosque in Akmola Region.
• Zhakiya Kazhi Mosque

Russian Orthodox churches:

• Church of the Resurrection, Kokshetau (capacity 1,500), (ROC)
• Church of the Holy Archangel Michael, Kokshetau, (ROC)
• St George's Church, Kokshetau. Kokshetau's first Christian Church.

Roman Catholic churches:

• Church of St. Anthony of Padua, Kokshetau

Kokshetau has a strong theater culture.

• From the central Abylai Khan Square, pedestrianised Kanysh Satbayev Street runs south a couple of blocks to the Palace of Culture (opened in 1977), which also incorporates Akmola Regional Russian Drama Theater
• Akmola Regional Kazakh Music and Drama Theatre named after Shahhmet Kussainov (opened in 1996)
• Children's puppet theater "Altyn Saka" (opened in 2022)

• Akmola Regional Philharmonic named after Ükılı Ybyrai was founded in 1956.

• Akmola Regional Museum of History and Local Lore (opened in 1920) offers a display of minerals and semi-precious stones in the foyer, and rooms on the ground floor devoted to palaeontology and to World War II, the latter focused on displays related to local war heroes.
• Kokshetau City History Museum (KCHM; opened as Valerian Kuybyshev’s Memorial Museum in 1949),[22] located at the a street on a hillside. The wooden house of the museum is where Valerian Kuybyshev, one of the Revolution’s most famous heroes, had grown up. The house is surrounded by trees, with a stable or coach-house at the back and a particular memorial tree planted by his mother in 1903 in memory of Valerian’s brother, accidentally shot and killed by a friend. This little museum initially was dedicated to a really tough revolutionary. As a boy Valerian Kuybyshev had started taking part in the anti-tsarist movement and then in the days of the Bolshevik struggle had led troops against the White Guards in the Civil War, he was one of those revolutionaries in the true spirit of the Revolution. There were also Amangeldi Imanov and Alibi Dzhangildin who are national heroes of the Central Asian uprising in 1916.
• Museum of Mercy and Courage (opened in 1982)
• Museum of Literature and Art (opened in 1989)
• Museum of the Hero of the Soviet Union Malik Gabdullin (opened in 1993), located at the corner of Auelbekov and Nazarbayev streets, on the eastern side of the town centre, the modern-looking two-storey wooden building. Malik Gabdullin was born in 1915, in a village 30 km away from Kokshetau. When he was made a Hero of the Soviet Union in 1943, the authorities constructed for his family a larger and nicer wooden house adjacent to this, but his pious father donated the wood from this building to efforts to reconstruct the Kokshetau Mosque, when the latter was damaged by fire in 1956.

The first film screening in the city of Kokchetav (now Kokshetau) took place in 1910.

• Cinema Alem (formerly known as the Druzhba Cinema; it was built in 1963, and as of 2023 was still being used as a cinema). It is located in Independence Square and is currently the largest cinema in the city.

The city has 12 libraries. In addition to the libraries affiliated with the various universities and schools, the Akmola Regional Universal Scientific Library is a major research library. There are several archives in Kokshetau.

• Akmola Regional Universal Scientific Library (ARUSL) named after Magzhan Zhumabayev. ARUSL was inaugurated in 1946.

Local hospitals include the Avicenna Medical Centre, Viamedis Rehabilitation Centre among many others.[25]

Kokshetau's first newspaper was the weekly Tselinnyy kray, established in 1920, which would change its name to the Akmolinskaya Pravda in 1992. In the city, there are some popular urban newspapers. Akmolinskaya Pravda, Stepnoy mayak and Kokshetau are Russian-language media headquartered in the city. Akmolinskaya Pravda is the oldest newspaper of the city.

• Regional socio-political newspaper "Akmolinskaya Pravda" is a long-running daily local paper, with local and regional coverage.
• Republican newspaper "Bukpa"
• Regional newspaper "Arka Azhary"
• Regional newspaper "Stepnoy mayak"

Kokshetau television networks:

• Local television news is covered by TV channel Kazakhstan–Kokshetau
• Balapan
• Cartoon Network
• Channel One Eurasia
• Channel 31
• Disney Channel
• Euronews
• Gakku TV
• Khabar 24
• MTV
• Nickelodeon
• Qazsport

Kokshetau radio stations:

• "Kazakh Radio": 101.0 FM
• "Russian Radio Asia": 102.0 FM
• "Autoradio Kazakhstan": 102.5 FM
• "Shalkar Radio": 103.7 FM
• "Europe Plus Kazakhstan": 104.2 FM
• "Energy FM": 104.8 FM
• "Radio NS": 105.7 FM
• "Zhuldyz FM": 106.1 FM
• "Radio Dacha": 106.5 FM
• "People's Radio": 107.0 FM
• "Tengri FM": 107.6 FM

• Kokshetau City Administration[26] (in English) (in Kazakh) (in Russian)
• Kokshetau - Kazakhstan[27] (in Kazakh) (in Russian)
• Aqmola News[28] (in Kazakh) (in Russian)
• Akmolinskaya Pravda[29] (in Russian)

The city transport in Kokshetau consists of a network of buses, minibuses (marshrutka) and taxis that are available 24 hours a day. Public transport in Kokshetau is heavily privatized and mostly handled by private operators. In the square between the bus and railway stations gather a range of taxis and minibuses offering to take you to Astana or Petropavl. Buses in the city cost ₸80-₸120.

The city is an important railroad hub in the northern part of Kazakhstan. Kokshetau Railway station is served by the Kazakhstan Railways, which links Petropavl to Almaty. The first train pulled into the Kokshetau Railway station on 2 June 1922. Railways are Kokshetau's one of the main modes of intracity and suburban transportation. Kazakhstan Railways (who manage the station) provide freight and passenger traffic to and from Kokshetau.

There are two railway stations in the city: Kokshetau-1 and Kokshetau-2. The main railway station Kokshetau-1 station is located 1.3 km (0.81 mi) north-east from the centre of Kokshetau and includes a main building (built in 1981) and some other technical buildings. Kokshetau-1 station is the city's main station and a major stop for numerous passenger trains traveling between Petropavl and the other regions of Kazakhstan each day.[30] The popular Tulpar-Talgo service to Almaty takes sixteen hours. It sits at the eastern end of the long Abai Qunanbaiuly Street, Kokshetau's central thoroughfare. A tall concrete clock tower guides you to it.

Among the trains passing Kokshetau-1 station are the daily services between Almaty and Petropavl, Kyzylorda and Petropavl, and Karaganda and Kostanay. There are also less frequent trains passing northwards on to various Russian destinations, including Moscow, Yekaterinburg and Omsk, and local electric train services to Ereymentau and Astana.

Kokshetau Central Bus Terminal (Kökşetau avtobeketı), which opened in 1981, serves the city of Kokshetau. The bus station is on the Vernadsky Street 8 across the road from Kokshetau Railway Station. It links the city with the villages in Akmola Region and other cities in Kazakhstan and the neighboring countries. Frequent schedules of bus routes connect Kokshetau to Astana, Petropavl,[31] Zerenda, Burabay, Karaganda, Pavlodar, Kostanay, Omsk, Yekaterinburg, Tobolsk, Tyumen and Kurgan. Many of these are cross-country services operating from north to south, for which Kokshetau provides interchange facilities.

Kokshetau and surrounding communities are served by one commercial international airport: Kokshetau International Airport (IATA: KOV, ICAO: UACK), which is the seventeenth-busiest airport (2019) by passenger traffic in Kazakhstan. It is located 12.5 km (7.8 mi) north-east from the centre of city, on the route to Omsk, and used to be the headquarters of now-defunct Air Kokshetau.[32][33] The airport has a capacity of handling 200 passengers per hour. The Kokshetau International Airport, which opened in 1945, was significantly upgraded in 2013 with a new 2850-metre runway capable of accommodating all aircraft types without any restrictions.[34][35] In 2013, the airport received its first scheduled flight after the renovation to Moscow, Russia. The airport can be reached by car, public transport, or taxi. Seasonal flights to Frankfurt am Main, were available in 2004 but have been cancelled since. It serves mostly domestic flights. SCAT Airlines fly to and from Almaty, Aktau and Turkistan as well as FlyArystan operates three weekly flights to Almaty.[36][37] The former largest carrier of the Kokshetau Airport — Air Kokshetau — is not serving any regular destinations as of 2021.

The main roads to/from Kokshetau are:

• The city is served by the A1, which begins in Petropavl (189 km [117 mi]) and leads to Astana (292 km [181 mi]) passing Kokshetau, Shchuchinsk and Makinsk.[38] European route intersect in Kokshetau;
• The A13, which connects Kokshetau to Omsk (Russia). Kokshetau is located a couple of hours' drive south of Russia's Siberian border;

Other major roads passing through Kokshetau include:

• The R11 highway connects Kokshetau to Kostanay (via the M36);[39]
• The R12 highway connects Kokshetau to Atbasar

• The city centres on a large and bare Abylai Khan Square, at the intersection of Abai Qunanbaiuly and Kanysh Satbayev streets.
• Independence Square

West of the centre many attractive single-storey log-built houses survive, usually featuring painted wooden shutters. A couple of particularly fine examples, both enjoying official recognition as historical monuments, are the whitewashed wooden cottage at 22 Kenesary Khan Kasymuly Street, at the corner of Abai Qunanbaiuly Street, with intricate carving at the base of the roof, and the cottage at 33 Felix Dzerzhinsky Street. The latter sits opposite a small Kokshetau City History Museum (32 Kanay-bi Street), itself housed in a single-storey wooden building.

The city is full of numerous buildings and monuments that reflect its rich and diverse history. The architecture of Kokshetau has been shaped through its history by the progression of historical eras. Many buildings of Kokshetau are ranged from a different number of architectural styles.

The architecture of the city dates back to 19th century, the city had numerous wooden buildings with elaborate decor. Kokshetau is the home of a unique architectural tradition and community with number of historical buildings in city. There are a number of two-story wooden houses in the city built mostly in the middle of the 20th century as temporary habitations. Among other notable buildings are the mansions of the merchant Andrei Vasilievich Sokolov (late of the 19th century - beginning of the 20th century), the Akmola Regional Museum of History and Local Lore (beginning of the 20th century).

Industrialization in Kokshetau started in the late 1920s. The city's 3,000-worker Soviet construction trust built some of the large, gray, faceless apartment buildings that were so typical of Soviet society and still stand, often in disrepair, today. The apartments housed the trust's own construction workers, among others, in units of one to three rooms. The city’s apartment houses are called “Khrushchyovka” and “Stalinka” due to the peculiarities of architectural approaches in their construction.

When the Iron Curtain was falling, but the Soviet Union still was intact, five citizens from the city paid a visit to Waukesha. Among them was then mayor of the city, Askar Khassen, who took the idea of building more single homes in Kokshetau, as comfortable as the homes in the US. On the hilly outskirts of Kokshetau, someone may find the fingerprint of Waukesha County. There are big, expensive, single-family homes. They're inching up the hills. In Kokshetau, the locals have a name for this high-priced neighborhood of single-family homes, "Small America" or "Khassen's Cottages". Prominently located at the opening of this housing development are tall brick pillars, a sign outlining location of lots, and a decorative brick wall, all reminiscent of the gated entries seen in some Waukesha County subdivisions.

When the Soviet Union crumbled and Kazakhstan became an independent country in 1991, the city's construction trust-turned-business began to put a face on their buildings.

Kokshetau has 34 (secondary education) schools, including 6 lyceums and 6 gymnasiums.

• Kokshetau Nazarbayev Intellectual School of Physics and Mathematics (NIS Kokshetau PhM) was established in 2009, as a branch of the Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools (NIS), a network of schools in Kazakhstan.[40][41]
• Kokshetau Bilim-Innovation Public Lyceum (former “Kazakh-Turkish Lyceum”) for gifted children.[42][43]

The city is currently home to the following state higher educational institutions:

• Kokshetau State University (which is named after Shokan Ualikhanov), established 1962 — offers opportunities to study undergraduate, graduate and PhD programs in most fields. It is the biggest university in Kokshetau with 7,047 students and 499 academic staff.
• Kokshetau University (named after Abay Myrzakhmet), established 2000.
• Kokshetau Technical Institute of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Kazakhstan
• Kokshetau Academy of Economics and Management

A number of other non-state-funded institutions for further education operate in the city.

Elikti is a ski resort near Kokshetau, located on the slopes of Mount Elikti, at the elevation of 500 metres above sea level. The resort area is about 25 kilometres (16 mi) of Kokshetau city by the P11 road on the way from Kokshetau to Ruzayevka. It is popular for its mild climate, a large quantity of sunny days and a great amount of snow through the winter. Visitors can buy or rent any necessary skiing and snowboarding equipment.[48]

Around Kokshetau, there are numerous nearby freshwater lakes such as Lake Burabay, Lake Ulken Shabakty, Lake Kishi Shabakty, Lake Aiyrtau and the Lake Zerendi, which are popular among Kokshetau residents for recreation, swimming and watersports and can be quickly reached by car.

• 
  Lake Burabay
• 
  Lake Ulken Shabakty
• 
  Lake Kishi Shabakty
• 
  Lake Aiyrtau
• 
  Lake Zerendi

Kokshetau is twinned with:

• Waukesha, Wisconsin, United States (since October 1989)

Kokshetau has an official co-operation agreements (yntymaqtastyq turaly kelısım) with:

• Krasnoyarsk, Russian Federation (2022)[49]