The Saka burial mound on Rozybakiev Street in Almaty, once planned to become an open-air museum and later a park, will not be destroyed. Azamat Kaldybekov, akim of Bostandyk district, told journalists at a meeting, according to infohub.kz.
Residents' worries about the monument may have been sparked by the fate of another mound on 20 Line Street. It was razed in May to make way for a road to a school. The early Iron Age burial was at least 2,000 years old.
As for the Rozybakiev mound, it will be improved. Urbanists have proposed several options, including a pedestrian zone planted with shrubs and a Baiterek tree at its center.
"It will be a pedestrian zone, and the mound itself will remain," Kaldybekov said.
The start date for the work has not been announced, the Bostandyk district akimat said.
Also, the SHUAQ square on Dunaevsky Street, near the mound, is expected to be fully improved by September. An investor plans to add a fountain, a children's playground and a sports area.
Earlier, reports covered archaeologists' reaction to the demolition of the 2,000-year-old mound on 20 Line Street.