Mounds and rock paintings that served as an open-air sanctuary of the Bronze and Early Iron Age, Turkic, Kipchak periods, belonging to the paleocultural sacred landscapes of the low mountains, Balkhash-Alakol, Zharkent, Konyrolen intermountain basins of the Zhetysu region and their role in the implementation of the program "Rukhani Zhangyru" discusses in the article.
The relevance of the topic is determined by the issues of special protection of paleocultural sacred places, their effective use for the development of educational and pilgrimage tourism, as well as the lack of information on the topic in the tourist-geographical literature.
Some of the sacred objects that are emphasized in the implementation of the Ruhai Zhangyru program are rock paintings, burial mounds, settlements, solar signs of the Saka and Turkic period, early medieval cities and Turkuli. Their study allows the development of historical and educational sacral tourism, the formation of harmonious relations between human society and the natural environment.
A comparative analysis of the data collected during the study of individual territories of the region and the research of scientists allows us to reveal the meaning of the concept of "Sacred" and conclude that it is directly related to the development of culture.