Welcome To The National Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan

The main history, cultural museum in the capital city of Astana is an impressive place, an all new, grand building that has snazzy exhibits. From then until now, all things Kazakhstan.

The main entrance lobby. Was the lobby built big enough to house the giant golden falcon or was the falcon made just to fit the lobby space?

Starting at the beginning, a civilization of just bones in the ground. Moving on to mounds.

Time to perform the ceremony of raising the Khan.

Modern times means promoting modern accomplishments. The jet age has arrived and so has mounted hearts.

Jumping back to Silk Road times, a re-creation of a curled up dog in a cotton stall. Canines also gotta have their history!

Details Of Astana, Part One

Time to do a little peeking around the capital city of Astana.

Waiting for the weekend carnival to start.

Soldier of fortune graphic on a kids playground ride. Scary. More kids stuff, the bow of an inflatable boat slide.

City landscapers, on lunch break.

Gone too soon. A memorial etching of a soldier who died in the Afghanistan war. Horse statue of bling, behind the opera house.

Party area, also waiting for the weekend. 

Exploring The Nazarbayev Tsentr In Astana

First presidents gotta have their own educational center. Some artifacts from the past, a bit of a boasting bio, exhibits that look toward a bright future. Nursultan Nazarbayev was the first president of Independent Kazakhstan, serving from 1991 until 2019. Nice run.

As fitting with the rest of the architecture around town, a modern, striking building for the Tsentr.

Signing things is good to show. On the left, various Soviet-era ID cards in their iconic red billfolds. If you don't have the actual hand for signing, an acrylic one will work well.

Big stuff. A giant, 3D seal of the country, massive globe and a model of one of Kazakhstan's main symbols, "The Golden Man."

If you're a world leader, don't hide it! A wall of photographs that depict Nazarbayev shaking hands with other world leaders. Takes one to know one. Getting to know you through a gift, a plate from the White House, of the White House. Makes it easy to know where to send the Thank You card.

A leader needs a statue, preferably bronze, walking and slightly ahead of the past and your people. 

A Cloudy Day In Astana

Sometimes it's nice to have a grey background to your day, a chance to see one's environment in a subdued light.

Astana, muted.

A pedestrian bridge with peeking buildings. The aquatics show theater, quiet.

An old stadium, definitely not in use these days.

The strongman sculpture outside the circus building. He's steady in any weather. Blingy office buildings, trying to stay shiny in the grey.

Bronze soldiers at the Great Patriotic War (WWII) memorial, looking life-like while fitting in with the background. 

Small Pleasures At The Atameken Ethno-Memorial Map of Kazakhstan

Astana has a curious tourist attraction, a giant 3D model map of miniatures that depict significant sites from all over Kazakhstan. Think mini golf course of the country's greatest hits of buildings, industrial sites, bodies of water. Just no golfing. You walk through it and wonder who did the curating.

The city of Almaty, shrunk. The models are accurate and have to stand up to the elements.

International style building and and historic ice rink in the mountains above Almaty.

Various mountain ranges get their props.

Don't forget about the power of heavy industry, from oil, gas wells to super strip mining quarries. What kind of miniature golf course is this?

A big chemical factory complex, sure.

Nothing is too esoteric for the map. An eternal flame at a memorial. Behold the famous Buran space orbiter. Never heard of it? Only one shuttle was ever built and it had just one unmanned test flight in 1988.

The dried up Aral sea with stranded fishing boat and giant camels. Nice that the disaster has been depicted accurately. Except for the camels.

More Amazing Astana

We're not done. More signature vanity projects to feature proudly.

Here's the Palace of Peace and Reconciliation. Believe in the power of the pyramid. At least the power of it to make a nice cultural center.

Another fun shape. This building is a shopping mall designed to look like a modern interpretation of a traditional Kazakh tent. More fun with angles. A museum, educational center dedicated to Kazakhstan's first president, Nursultan Nazarbayev. The round building used to be the museum until it was converted to a high level government building.

Kazakhstan is a Muslim country and grand mosques are needed. Behold, the Hazrat Sultan mosque.

The circus is always in town and housed in this round spaceship. The show must be, ahem, out of this world. For a different entertainment experience, head to the Central Concert Hall, all wrapped in curvy blue glass.

Sunset along the Mall. The two gold cylinders are government offices, sometimes nicknamed The Beer Cans. Drink it in, soak it up, wash it down.

Amazing Astana

Astana, that's Kazakhstan. It used to be Nur Sultan. And Akmola. And something else. What it definitely is, is the capital of Kazakhstan and a fairly new city that looks like an architectural amusement park. As if celebrity architects were given piles of money to create giant paperweights. You pick the style, time period, just make it memorable.

The skyline is somewhere beyond.

The Kazmunaygaz gas utility building. Astana only became the capital city in 1997. A building boom ensued, big government buildings sprouted along a mall like Washington, DC. Styled more like Las Vegas. Independence square and column, more along the lines of an old European capital.

The big opera house, looking a bit ancient Greece.

Apartment buildings. Take your pick: modern glass or old Soviet looking.

Baiterek tower, the center of modern Astana. Exploding soccer ball, metal ice cream cone?