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?