Heritage Protection Service
Office of the Governor of Irad
Heritage Protection Service
State Register of Monuments of History and Culture
State Emblem of Irad
Attention! Kara-Suu Canyon mouth: excavation site closed to visitors, no photography (permit No. 07/2026) · Rabat-i-Safed winter hours from 1 November: 10:00-16:00 · Finds of church property made before 1992 must be declared within ten days · Drones prohibited over Cathedral Hill, Iyık Janyl

Welcome to the Heritage Protection Service

The Heritage Protection Service keeps the State Register of Monuments of History and Culture under the heritage ordinance of 1997, protects the monuments entered in it, runs the open-air museums and issues permits for excavations and for works on monuments. It is the state body for the two World Heritage properties on the territory of Irad.

Cathedral Hill, Iyık Janyl
Cathedral Hill, Iyık Janyl. The Church of St. Janyl precinct, World Heritage since 2004 (Reg. No. 97/001). Photo: Irad Wiki Commons

Notices

  • 01.11.2026 NEW Thirty further entries of the Register published online: monuments of national and local importance in Talas, Nurzhan, Iyık Janyl and the districts, among them the Juma Mosque and the Church of St. Yuhanna in Talas, the Korgon of the Abdrai captains and the Mausoleum of Aulie-Ata. State Register
  • 27.10.2026 Rabat-i-Safed open-air museum: winter hours from 1 November, daily 10:00-16:00. More
  • 14.09.2026 Provisional protection for the Kara-Suu I cave shelter and the Kara-Suu Canyon entrance rock art. The excavation is closed to visitors; photography is not permitted. More
  • 02.09.2026 Excavation permit No. 07/2026 issued to Talas State University, Department of Archaeology (rescue excavation, Kara-Suu Canyon mouth).
  • 15.07.2026 Reminder: drones are prohibited over Cathedral Hill, Iyık Janyl, including during the Feast of St. Janyl.
  • 03.03.2026 2025 report: 31 finds declared under the 2010 amendment, 9 of them church property. Applications for the 2026 excavation season closed on 1 March.
Photography at monumentsPhotography for private use is allowed at most monuments. It is not permitted inside the Church of St. Janyl during services, in the cathedral library and archives, in the painted rock shelter, at excavations, in the occupied ravine cells and anywhere in the restricted zone of the Qara-Chik line. Each entry in the Register shows the rule for that monument. Commercial filming needs a filming permit.

World Heritage

Prot. No.PropertyInscribed
97/001-002Church of St. Janyl and the Ruins of Old Iyık Janyl2004
97/003-004Caravanserai of Rabat-i-Safed and Kok-Tash Kariz (Silk Roads)2014

The virtual tour of the Church of St. Janyl, made under the World Heritage management plan with the Service as partner, is published on the cathedral's site, saintjanyl.org.

From the press service

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