Astana

Bayterek—meaning “tall poplar” or, more poetically, “the tree of life”—is Astana’s most iconic symbol and the physical manifestation of the city’s post-independence rebirth. Designed by then-President Nursultan Nazarbayev and architect Akmurza Rustembekov, the 97-meter tower (the number chosen to mark the year 1997, when Astana became the capital) depicts a mythical tree topped by a golden sphere, in which a nest holds the egg laid by the sacred bird Samruk. Visitors ascend to the observation deck at 97 meters, where a gilded handprint of the president’s right hand invites you to place your own palm against it and make a wish—a ritual that has become a rite of passage for every visitor to Kazakhstan’s capital. From the top, the view sweeps across the geometric precision of Astana’s Left Bank: the Ishim River glinting below, the pyramid-shaped Palace of Peace and Reconciliation in the distance, and the endless steppe beyond. It is kitsch, yes—but it is also deeply earnest, a monument to a nation’s aspirations rendered in white steel and gold leaf.

Rising from the flat Kazakh steppe like a translucent tent of glass and steel, Khan Shatyr is the audacious brainchild of British architect Norman Foster. Completed in 2010, this 150-meter-tall ethereal structure is technically the world’s tallest tent—a nod to the nomadic yurt heritage of the Kazakh people, reimagined on a megalopolitan scale. Its ETFE-cushion façade allows natural light to flood the interior while a sophisticated climate-control system maintains a balmy 15–30°C inside, even when Astana’s winter plunges to −40°C. Beneath the soaring canopy lies a 10-hectare urban resort: a boating canal, a sandy beach with real Caribbean-imported sand, a shopping mall, a multiplex cinema, and a rooftop observation deck. It is at once a monument to post-Soviet ambition and a genuinely enjoyable place to spend a day—particularly when the steppe outside is locked in ice. Khan Shatyr doesn’t just shelter visitors from the elements; it creates an entirely new micro-environment, a bubble of perpetual summer in the heart of Central Asia.