Tamgaly-Tas.

Buddhist open-air temple located on the Ile River 25 km downstream from Kapshagai. Images of saints are carved on vertical rocks on the right bank of the river.

This monument is valuable as a source of information on the history and culture of the Oirat peoples and as a sacral monument associated with the teaching of late Buddhism - Tantrism. Cleverly executed figures are canonical. They follow the Buddhist descriptions of the saints and are distinguished by their high craftsmanship and precision of attributes. The monument provides valuable information on the history of Buddhism and the art of masters of the XVII century.

Since the middle of the XIX century these figures and prayer texts have been studied by many researchers: Ch.Ch.Valikhanov (1856), K.A.Larionov (1877), F.V.Poyarkov (1898), N.N.Pantusov and A.M. Pozdneyev (1896-1898). In the XX century, its study was continued by A.Kh. Margulan, I.V. Erofeyeva, F.P. Grigoriev, A.E. Rogozhinsky, B.A. Zheleznyakov and others. In 2008-2010 Tamgaly-Tas as a monument of history and monumental art of the XVII-XVIII centuries became the object of complex interdisciplinary research of a group of specialists (I.V. Erofeyeva, A.E. Rogozhinsky, B.J. Aubekerov, R. Sala, J.-M. Deom) with the participation of Russian Mongologists from St. Petersburg (N.S. Yakhontova, Y.I. Elikhina).

The monument is a small rocky massif on the bank of the river, at the foot of which on 15 separate blocks are concentrated large images of Buddhist deities and multi-time Tibetan and Oirat inscriptions. Central are the images on a rocky block of three deities: Shakyamuni, Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara and the teacher of the healer Manly (in Tibetan). The names of the saints in the text are in Mongolian and Tibetan. The central figure is the image of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. His image is canonical, and many details of his figure are depicted here: he is depicted as a one-faced deity sitting on a lotus throne with crossed legs and four hands. The lotus and beads are carved on the rocky surface. Buddha Manla (also known as Otochi in Mongolian) sits on a lotus, in his right hand holds the healing fruit of all diseases peaceful, known in Tibetan medicine. In his left hand he has a bowl to collect gifts. Below is a Tibetan saying: "I worship the Buddha, the deity of medicine. The figure of Akshobhya, one of the five Buddhas of Wisdom in Vajrayana Buddhism, is carved down the slope.

The construction of the temple on Ile took place at the beginning of 1677 with the participation of the supreme ruler Galdan Huntaiji and lasted for five years. Tamgaly-Tas is noticeably distinguished among other monuments of Tibetan Buddhism of the same historical period in the territory of Kazakhstan and neighboring countries by its monumentality, artistic representativeness and variety of epigraphic texts, which reflects the special significance of the sanctuary in the era of its origin and functioning. The monument has no analogues in the western part of Central Asia.

Object of tourism.