МҰнайшы маусым 2014 3 «Мұнайшы» журналы «ПетроҚазақстан» компаниясының қызметкерлеріне арналған корпоративтік басылым. Бас редактор

May 26 - Almaty choreographic school 

named after A.V.Seleznev conducted a festive 

gala-concert devoted to its 80

th

 anniversary 

in Astana city. The choreographic school is 

PetroKazakhstan’s traditional sponsorship 

project. 

May 28 - at a ceremony dedicated to 

Children’s Day, children at the Shapagat 

rehabilitation centre received gifts from 

PetroKazakhstan Kumkol Resources.

June

June 1 - PKKR sponsored International 

Children’s Day events. More than 800 children 

who took part in sports and cultural events in 

the Kyzylorda city park received gifts and soft 

toys. Also, 7,000 portions of ice cream were 

given out as part of the celebrations.

June 1 - at an International Children’s 

Day celebration, 45 children from the 

sponsored Balgyn kindergarten located 

in the Zhanakorgan district of Kyzylorda 

Oblast received first-grade school sets from 

PetroKazakhstan Kumkol Resources.

June 2 - to celebrate International 

Children’s Day, the Shymkent Refinery 

allocated funds to purchase medical 

equipment and carry out repair work in the 

oblast children’s hospital.

June 5 - saw the start of the traditional 

Caravan of Joy charity campaign organised 

by PKKR and the Kyzylorda Oblast children’s 

fund. The campaign will cover 8 children’s 

leisure camps in the Kyzylorda Oblast for all 

5 summer seasons. Children taking part in 

the various sport’s and cultural events will 

receive gifts from PetroKazakhstan (skate 

boards, photo albums, watches and others). 

The objective of the campaign is to help 

organise children’s summer leisure activities 

and teenagers live a healthy life style.

June 15-19 - company top management 

is to take part in the 21

st

 World Petroleum  

Congress in Moscow. PetroKazakhstan is 

one of several companies in the Kazakhstani 

delegation headed by the KAZENERGY 

Association.

By the end of June, a 4,000 tonne per 

year sulphur production unit is planned to 

be commissioned as part of the first stage of 

the Shymkent Refinery Modernisation and 

Reconstruction project.

ПҚОП-тағы өрт сөндіру қауіпсіздігі бойынша оқулар / Учения по пожарной безопасности на ПКОП / 

Fire safety trainings at PKOP

Құмкөл. Өндіріс бойынша директор Пан Синь-

цзюнь мини-футбол бойынша турнир жеңімпаздарды 

құттықтауды / Кумколь. Директор по производству Пань 

Синьцзюнь чествует победителей турнира по мини-

футболу / Pan Xinjun, Director of Production Operations, 

congratulates mini-fotball tournament winners at Kumkol 

64

маусым 2014      

МҰНАЙШЫ

I am lucky 

“Our aircraft has started its descent into 

Berlin airport…” said the stewardess’s voice 

over the cabin loudspeaker just as I heard 

the words of the Grigoriy Leps song in my 

earphones, “I am happy like nobody else, I 

am happy for 100 years…”. I considered it as 

a good sign meaning the family visit to my 

elder brother would at least not be boring.

After passing customs control and 

picking up my luggage, in the middle of a 

large crowd of greeters, I found the face 

I was looking for, that of Yuri, my elder 

brother, who had moved to Germany 11 

years earlier. And now our long-awaited 

meeting was actually happening. Just as in 

the film, a meeting on the Elba!

The German capital greeted me and 

my daughter Alexandra with warmth and 

affection. What was the point of hiding it? 

I wanted to see all of the Berlin sights as 

soon as I could - the Berlin wall, Reichstag, 

the Brandenburg Gate, the memorial to the 

Soviet liberators… I had heard about them 

thousands of times, but still wanted to see 

them.

From the moment I arrived, I understand 

why Berlin is one of the greenest European 

capital cities. I was pleased to see the 

number of parks; the most popular being 

the Tiergarten close to the Reichstag, 

Berlin-Mitte, and of course the famous 

Treptower park, home to the largest military 

monument outside of the former USSR.

berlin Alesha

The Treptower Park, which was opened 

in 1876, is well known across the former 

USSR by people of my age and older. They 

know about the cruel war that took tens 

of millions of lives. The park itself is the 

final resting place of roughly 7,000 of 

20,000 Soviet soldiers who died during the 

liberation of the city at the very end of the 

Great Patriotic War. Alongside the Mamayev 

Kurgan in Volgograd, this is the most famous 

Military memorial in the world.

On the burial mound, above the crown 

of old trees, rises a Soviet soldier holding a 

little German girl he had saved in his arms 

and a sword hacking a fascist swastika. It is 

an amazing monumental sight. The Berlin 

Alesha (there is a similar monument in 

Bulgaria) has been a symbol of victory over 

fascism since I was a small child.

the Reichstag

The Reichstag building is the heart of 

and main sight in Berlin. Built in 1894, it 

has since been burnt down, blown up and 

bombed… From the films, I remember the 

1945 Red Army Berlin operation. I give my 

respect to the German authorities who, 

after reconstruction of the Reichstag, 

retained a bit of not only German but world 

history, as today you can see the inscriptions 

of Soviet soldiers on the charred walls inside 

the building, and also on parts of the roof. I 

suddenly remembered what I had learnt at 

school about my heroes from Kazakhstan 

Rakhymzhan Koshkarbayev and Grigoriy 

Bulatov, who were the first to raise a flag 

over the Reichstag on 30 April 1945.

The Reichstag remained half ruined until 

the 1970s and after that it was used as a 

museum. Since 1999 after the reunification 

of the two Germanys, the building has been 

the home of the German Parliament - the 

Bundestag. I was very surprised that I could 

enter the building by simply registering my 

visit. It really is spellbinding, and offers a 

wonderful view of the city from its glass 

dome.

the brandenburg Gate

Alongside the Reichstag and Berlin Wall, 

the 200-year old Brandenburg Gate is an 

important historical symbol. Berlin used to 

be surrounded by a wall with 18 gates, and 

this is the only one remaining. After WW 

II, the gate acted as the divider between 

West and East Berlin, becoming one of the 

symbols of the division of Germany, and 

since 1989, its reunification.

the berlin wall

Another historical monument that every 

visitor to Berlin should visit is the Berlin 

Wall - the symbol of the cold war - dividing 

Germans into two camps - Socialist and 

Capitalist. As a reminder of those times, 

some of the most unforgettable moments 

have been etched onto the walls, including 

the traditional kiss between General 

Secretary Leonid Brezhnev and the Head of 

the GDR Erich Honecker.

Danke schoen, berlin! Guten tag, 

kamenz!

Having seen Berlin, we travelled to 

Kamenz, a small and pleasant town about 

180 km to the south of the capital, and 

A GAlloP AcRoss euRoPe

Берлиндік Алеша / Берлинский Алеша / The Berlin Alesha

Әйгілі прагалық сағат /  Знаменитые пражские часы / 

Prague’s most famous clock 

МҰНАЙШЫ      

маусым 2014

65

where I would be staying with my brother at 

his home for the next three weeks. Walking 

around the shops and streets, I was often 

amazed by German punctuality, politeness 

and smiles, and one story in particular. I was 

standing at a quiet crossing and noticed one 

of the locals. The lights turned red, and even 

though there were no cars on the road, he 

did not even try to cross the road until the 

lights turned green. “Now, that is order and 

discipline”, I thought.

Paris - the city of love, freedom, 

sweetness and light

In my opinion going to Europe without 

visiting Paris is impermissibly unthoughtful. 

Amazing to think that I only knew I had 

crossed the border into France when I 

received a text message telling me so.

We arrived in Paris on 14 July for Bastille 

Day, a national holiday celebrated since 

1880, and were met by a light morning fog. 

We soon realised we only had two days to 

rush around Paris to see all of the sights.

Paris has been attracting millions of 

people from all over the world for hundreds 

of years, and while we were there, we heard 

something funny from our tour guide, who, 

standing at a red light, said to us, “What are 

you waiting for? We are not in Germany! 

Here on green we walk across the road, and 

on red we run!”

the notre Dame cathedral

Moving on, I realised that due to its 

positive energy and aura I had been really 

affected by my visit to Europe’s oldest 

cathedral. After the excursion, my brother 

and I just sat in silence on one of the 

cathedral courtyard benches for at least 10 

minutes...

With its spellbinding beauty, Notre Dame 

Cathedral is considered one of Europe’s 

most impressive architectural gothic style 

creations. It took 200 years to build and the 

level of skill in the details of the architecture 

is phenomenal. The cathedral is ideally 

located - its two towers can be seen from 

practically everywhere in Paris.

the eiffel tower

The Eiffel Tower is undoubtedly France’s 

best known symbol. Interestingly, when the 

Eiffel Tower was being built in 1887-1889 for 

the 1889 World Exhibition, the plan was to 

dismantle it. However, due to requests from 

the city’s inhabitants and visitors, fortunately 

the authorities decided to leave it, and rightly 

so, as the Eiffel Tower consequently has 

become the city’s most popular attraction. 

There is wonderful view of the city and 

suburbs from its viewing points.

the versailles

The Versailles Palace close to Paris was 

at one time the hunting residence of the 

King of France and is famous not only 

for its architecture but as being a symbol 

of absolute monarchy. It is difficult to 

get across in words the splendour of the 

Versailles Palace - it’s beautiful gardens 

and internal decorations are a real treat: 

everywhere you look there are works of art 

by old masters, examples of decorative and 

ornamental art and elegant furniture. And 

as our guide told us, “all 700 (!) rooms at 

Versailles look like that!”

the louvre and Arc de triomphe

As a chance like this does not come along 

every day, I tried to see and hear as much as 

I could. And that is exactly how it was in the 

world’s largest museum - the Louvre, home 

to 400,000 exhibits: paintings, gravures, 

sculptures, ceramic objects, jewellery and 

ornamental art. By my calculations, if I had 

spent a minute on each exhibit, I would 

have needed three months to see the entire 

Louvre collection! However, I did manage 

to see all of the most popular exhibits - the 

statute of Aphrodite and Nike, the Greek 

Goddess of Victory. And of course, I saw the 

masterpiece by the great Italian renaissance 

artist Leonardo da Vinci, the Mona Lisa.

I also visited the famous Arc de 

Triomphe. As far as I understand, France 

has revolutionary history, and the Arc de 

Triomphe was built in honour of those 

who fought and died for the country during 

the French revolution and the Napoleonic 

wars. The names of all French victories 

and generals are etched into its walls. The 

street leading to the Arc de Triomphe from 

the Eiffel Tower is the 2-km long Champs-

Élysées, which is roughly divided into two 

zones: the park zone and shopping zone, 

and is one of Paris’s main sights, attracting 

millions of tourists.

les Invalides

The history of Les Invalides overwhelmed 

me. Practically, every tourist asks why it is 

called Les Invalides.

The decision to build Les Invalides 

was taken by King Louis XIV in 1670 to 

provide accommodation to former soldiers 

who could either no longer serve or who 

had been injured in battle, old soldiers 

and veterans. In the year it was built, Les 

Invalides became home for 4,000 of them. 

Les Invalides also included ateliers where 

former soldiers were making uniforms, 

footwear and carpets, book illustrations 

and other items. Today the monastery and 

boarding house no longer operate, but the 

building is still used as a hospital. The rooms 

where the wounded soldiers lived are now 

used as museum exhibition halls.

Les Invalides is also famous as the last 

resting place of the Emperor Napoleon 

whose tomb was built in 1861 by the 

sculptor Visconti.

Париждің панорамалық көрінісі / Панорама Парижа / Panoramic view of Paris

66

маусым 2014      

МҰНАЙШЫ

on the River seine

To complete our trip, my brother and 

I decided to take a trip on Paris’s main 

river – the Seine. This really was the only 

moment when the hustle and bustle of 

Paris left us behind. No matter how you 

may have wanted to hurry, time still passed 

at the speed the river flowed. You see all of 

Paris’s sights along the riverbank slightly 

differently. It was great to be able to see and 

take photos of everything we saw!

nazdar, czech Republic!

No matter how you may want to, you 

cannot see all of Paris in two days, although 

I did manage to see more in that time than 

I had seen in many years. Once we had 

relaxed after our trip to Paris, we decided to 

travel to Prague, the Czech capital, for the 

day. It is only 180 km from Kamenz, which 

is why we decided to travel by car.

So, off we rushed to Prague on the 

German autobahns. “Rushing” is probably 

an understatement. Germany is probably 

the only country in Europe where the 

autobahns have no speed limits. A happy 

hunting ground!

the Prague castle and 

the old town Hall

Prague is a clean and cosy city and we 

decided to start our walking trip with the 

glowing red and orange roofs of the Prague 

Castle. Founded in the 19

th

 century, it is 

today the residence of the Czech Head of 

State. Prague Castle is home to the Holy 

Cross Chapel, the Prague Castle picture 

gallery and the gothic St. Vitus Cathedral.

Moving through the swarms of tourists, 

we headed towards the town hall on Old 

town square, one of the most attractive 

places in Prague. The town hall has 

been turned into an amazing work of 

architecture. From the town hall tower 

viewpoints, you can see some amazing 

views.

Prague’s main sight is the world-wide 

famous clock built in 1410 and now a 

symbol of the Czech capital. Another 

symbol is Charles Bridge, which was started 

in 1357 on the orders of Charles IV and 

whose name it bears to this day. Becoming 

a pedestrian bridge in 1974, this amazing 

monument to history and architecture has 

an interesting life. It is 500 m long and a 

popular meeting and walking place. It is full 

of artists, musicians, souvenir sellers and of 

course tourists.

bastei

Bastei, our next port of call, translates 

from German as rampart. This beautiful 

sight is located in the Saxon Switzerland 

(a rocky and forested area in the east 

of Germany, close to Dresden) and 

is a sandstone formation with many 

viewpoints. Bastei is a very popular place 

for tourists and mountain climbers alike.

And for dessert

We managed to visit Dresden just before 

my leave. The clean and quaint cobbled 

streets were just like in the movies… One of 

the most beautiful places in Dresden is the 

Zwinger Palace - part of a fortress between 

the external and internal fortress walls. It 

is now home to a number of museums, the 

most famous being the Dresden picture 

gallery, where I was lucky enough to see the 

famous Sistine Madonna.

In Dresden we visited the famous 

Frauenkirche, the most important Lutheran 

church in Germany. During the bombing in 

1945, the church was practically destroyed, 

with only a fragment of one wall remaining. 

Local residents collected up the pieces, 

labelled them and put them in storage. For 

a number of years, the church ruins stood 

as a memorial to victims of the war, and it 

was only rebuilt from the fragments a few 

years ago.

I am lucky!

Remember the aphorism “Those were 

the best days of your life!” The sights I 

saw and the pictures I took will stay with 

me as a memory of my trip. I am so lucky 

that I managed to see what I saw, was able 

to marvel at the architectural beauty and 

unforgettable atmosphere I experienced 

and have had the chance to share it with 

you...

Andrey Taigunov,

photographer, specialist, public 

relations, pKKR

Дрезден. Цвингер. / Дрезден. Цвингер. / Dresden. Zwinger Palace.

Қайта өркендеу дәуірінің құпиясы / Тайна эпохи Возрождения / A mystery of the Renaissance 

www.petrokazakhstan.kz