KarLag Museum

This was a really informative and sobering experience.

We had an English speaking guide who was very knowledgeable and helpful.

Overall, a great experience.

An absolute must if you care about history, past and present. We traveled about three hours by bus from Astana for this museum, and it was well worth the effort. Heartbreaking and powerful. Thank you to everyone who contributed to making this horrific place into a history museum.

Very rare to find a museum like this in the region that critically deals with an uneasy history. Definitely worth a visit, you can try to get an English guide, it will be much more accessible

The Karlag War Museum provides a comprehensive and thought-provoking exploration of a crucial historical period, particularly focusing on the intersection of war and political oppression during the era of Joseph Stalin. The museum effectively captures the gravity of the events associated with the Karlag labor camps and their impact on individuals during this tumultuous time.

If you're in the area this is well worth the visit, very sobering, eye opening and thought provoking. Some great information, alot of it in English but English guides or translate app help with the rest.

Interesting and informative museum. Maria was a fantastic guide. She spoke perfect English and was very knowledgeable and engaging. She presented the difficult subject matter with respect. Highly recommended a visit.

Very enlightening place to visit. Well worth the modest entry fee

Interesting place to understand the soviet repression. You need to book in advance for an English tour

Well done museum. Only some information is in English, but there is an English speaking guide available for a tiny fee.

It's a small museum depicting the horrors the people had to endure while incarcerated at the gulag. The English guide was very nice and friendly and explained every exhibit in detail.

Very difficult to find, but well worth the visit if you are interested in Soviet Era Kazakh SSR history. I recommend going during scheduled tour. The museum is not for faint of heart - the pictures and exhibits are haunting - especially tje torture chambers and room on kazakhstan famine

Excellent museum about the Karaganda forced labour camp located in the building where it was the main office and the administration of the whole lager system in Kazakhstan. The price is very cheap (400 KZT) and the permission to take photos costs 700 KZT. Guides speak Kazakh, Russian and English. I recommend to book the visit and choose one of these possibilities (at 10 and 11.30 AM; at 15 and 16.30 PM). In one hour and half it is possible to understand what was a forced labour camp, how it worked, how many people were repressed, how many died and from where they came. The experience is hard, for strong-hearted visitors because some photos are truly shocking. Please, do not forget this small but dramatic piece in the human history.

For 1500T they called a nice speaking English guide who toured me around the museum. Way better than to read informations in English which are not everywhere in the museum.

Amazing experience. Great job has been done by designers, artists, and locals who shared the documents and pictures of that time. Surprisingly the museum was opened in early 2000s with only few rooms. Later it was rennovated and reopened in 2011 and became the one we see today. The guided tour was quite interesting and informative. It is so impressive to learn how many scientists, artists, writers and other brilliant people were deported here, in my home town.

It is shame there is no audio guide. I suggest the administration to introduce audio guide in English.

This museum near Karaganda shows important history of the region during the Soviet period. There are exhibits about famine and political repression across Kazakhstan, but the central focus is the KarLag labor camp which was located here. The basement is a reconstruction of what it looked like in the camps, and there's information about what was produced here and the demographics of the victims. Many informative and moving exhibits. Don't visit Karaganda without stopping by this museum!

Pretty good museum with cheap entry. My guide spoke in Russian but all posters are also in English. Well organised and quite modern if we can say it about such subject in this type of objects. Taking photos is prohibited without special permission which cost 700 KZT. Ticket cost 400 KZT with guide or 300 KZT without guide.
The main issue is how to get the museum from bus stop SHAKHTA 2. Taxi takes 100 -150 KZT but you need to agreed with driver BEFORE the ride. By foot it takes 40 min. From Karagandy is a bus 121 which goes to Shakhtarsk BTW.

Great, although very depressive museum, worth to visit. Excellent exhibitions.

Well organised and displayed. An eye opening and harrowing historical presentation of Karlag through the years.

Sad place, sad history, but a must see place to visit to understand the horror of the communists.

very amusing museum for a really cheap price