Half an hour south of Bishkek, the Ata-Beyit ("Father's Resting Place") memorial commemorates the victims of Stalin's purges — particularly the 137 Kyrgyz political and cultural leaders shot at this spot in 1938 and buried in a hidden mass grave. The site also holds the grave of the novelist Chingiz Aitmatov and many of those killed in the 2010 revolution.
It is a moving and unhurried place — a simple stone memorial in a low valley below the Kyrgyz Ala-Too, with names and dates engraved on a long granite wall. A small museum on site explains the history.