Tanbaly Museum-Reserve is one of the most ancient and impressive rock art monuments in Central Asia, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2004. The complex is located 170 km northwest of Almaty (along the highway toward Bishkek), near the village of Karabastau.

Important: Do not confuse this site with the Tamgaly-Tas complex on the banks of the Ili River. The petroglyphs on the Ili River belong to a later, Buddhist period, whereas Tanbaly dates primarily back to the Bronze Age.

The Visitor Center (official website: https://tanbaly.kz) is located in the village of Karabastau, where you can purchase tickets and literature, tour the museum exhibition, and book a guided tour in Kazakh, Russian, or English. A parking lot and the entrance to the complex itself are located 4 km from the center. The archaeological complex brings together not only petroglyphs but also ancient burial grounds, settlements, cult structures, and stone quarries.
The sanctuary was discovered in the late 1950s, and its large-scale study began in the 1970s and 1980s. The core layer of the drawings dates back to the Bronze Age. It features unique subjects ranging from the Saka "animal style" and hunting scenes to complex rituals. The primary value of Tanbaly lies in the first artistic representations of deities. In essence, it is a grand, open-air "Temple of the Sun."

Petroglyph Groups
The main part of the complex consists of seven groups, but not all of them are open to tourists. A special permit must be obtained for scientific research.

The petroglyphs of the first group include 111 images, most of which are Bronze Age sketches and unfinished drawings, along with individual large animal figures measuring up to 60–70 cm. The most intriguing image in this group is a solitary "mummer" (masked figure) in the center of a large rock face, which is contextually linked to a group of animal depictions on an adjacent cliff. These "mummers" are figures of humans dressed in animal skins with wolf tails, their hands raised in intimidating poses with fingertips curled into spirals. Some of these petroglyphs were relocated to the Museum of Archaeology at the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Tourist access to this group is restricted due to rockfall hazards.

The second group of petroglyphs is the most vivid and interesting, but unfortunately, it is also closed to the general public. It contains 432 of the oldest petroglyphs in Tanbaly. These Bronze Age images are very large, deeply and meticulously carved. The rarest and most intriguing petroglyphs include sexual scenes between humans and between humans and animals, a pregnant woman, childbirth, a "mace-bearer," "sun-heads," and "mummers."

The "Mace-bearer" is the central character of the artistic narrative, a mythical thunder-god hero. His defining attribute is a battle club, or mace, which he holds across his shoulders with both hands. The hero's pose is peculiar: his half-bent legs are depicted in profile, while his head and torso face forward, toward the viewer. A specific attribute of anthropomorphic characters in Tanbaly is an animal tail, representing the positive or negative qualities of whichever mythological hero it was associated with. The "Mace-bearer" is depicted with a horse tail, and a horse or a pair of horses serve as the hero's constant companions.

"Sun-heads" is a conventional term used by archaeologists to describe fantastic characters where a human figure (torso, legs, arms) is crowned with complex "halos" consisting of various elements of astral and solar symbolism (rays, circles, dots). One of the most remarkable depictions of a "sun-head" surrounded by animals was located on the highest rock outcrop on the right side of the second group. Unfortunately, half a century ago, the top of the cliff collapsed, and today we can only imagine what these petroglyphs looked like from a photograph taken by the first researchers of Tanbaly in 1957.

This group also features numerous hunting scenes, such as an archer with a dog hunting wild goats, a group of deer depicted in the Saka style, or a spotted cow, which is highly popular today.

The third group contains 444 Bronze Age petroglyphs, though a significant portion of them was reworked in subsequent centuries. Many ancient compositions are supplemented with petroglyphs from the Saka period and the Middle Ages. The spatial arrangement of the petroglyphs in this group allows visitors to observe them from the opposite side of the ravine.

Notable compositions in the third group include an archaic ritual of human sacrifice, a rider on a horned horse, a dance of warriors with battle-axes, a "sun-head" standing on a bull, and a pregnant cow with a calf depicted inside her.

The fourth group of petroglyphs forms the semantic and compositional center of the sanctuary. It contains more than 700 petroglyphs, though most of them are less expressive and date back to the Early Iron Age, the Middle Ages, and modern times (17th–19th centuries). Of exceptional value is a unique Bronze Age pantheon panel, which displays seven divine characters of an ancient pagan cult arranged in a specific order, each depicted in a distinct manner. Below them are 10 warriors performing a battle dance, a woman giving birth, and people raising their hands in prayer.

The sixth group of petroglyphs is located at some distance from the central zone of the tract, and visiting it is currently not included in the main tour route. However, this cluster, compactly situated on a single hill, features a number of Turkic-period petroglyphs that are quite unique and highlight the distinctive nature of the rock art of this specific era.

The seventh group of petroglyphs is included in the visit to the distant sixth group. Located here are Turkic-period rock art images of Tanbaly, the core of which will be a visit to the petroglyphs of the Sunkarsay Gorge, the closest one to Tanbaly from the north.
If you are planning a trip to Tanbaly, please make sure you have enough drinking water for each member of your group. Wear a hat and comfortable shoes. In summer, temperatures can reach up to 50 degrees Celsius, so plan your trip for spring or autumn, or a cloudy day in the summer. The road to the complex itself is paved, so you will not need an off-road vehicle. Picnics are not allowed inside the complex; dedicated picnic areas are provided at the parking lot instead.

The better you prepare for the trip before visiting the complex, the more petroglyphs you will be able to find and see on-site, and the more engaging your immersion into the Bronze Age history of Kazakhstan will be.