Nur-Sultan
Young. Innovative. Progressive. It is such epithets that come to mind when it comes to Nur-Sultan - the main city of the Republic of Kazakhstan, which received the status of the capital in 1997, until that time the capital was Nur-Sultan.
If you want to see what modern architecture is, you should definitely visit Nur-Sultan. The scale and grandeur of urban buildings and constructions can impress guests, perhaps even from the most developed countries.
The most famous contemporary architects, such as Norman Foster, Kisho Kurokawa, and other world known designers have been engaged in urban development of the “new” Nur-Sultan. That is why the uniqueness of construction projects is difficult to overestimate. Some buildings in Nur-Sultan beat records in height and scale, for example, the Khan Shatyr shopping and entertainment center reaches up to 152 meters height and its tent is the largest in the world.
Among some tourists visiting Nur-Sultan it is called the “Dubai in Kazakhstan”. But, in addition to modern Nur-Sultan with its huge amount of restaurants, nightclubs, theaters, museums, shopping and business centers, there is a historical part of the city.
Nur-Sultan is located along the banks of the Ishim River. The history of the city in comparison with other areas of Central Asia, began not so long ago.
In 1830, near the large Kazakh settlement of Akmol, on the initiative of Colonel Fyodor Kuzmich Shubin, a participant in the Battle of Borodino, a city of Akmolinsk was founded, initially as a Cossack outpost, which until 1862 did not have the official status of the city.
After Khrushchev launched the Tselina Revival program and the wide steppes of Kazakhstan turned into wheat fields, in 1961 the city of Akmolinsk received a new name Tselinograd and was appointed as the center for the development of the Virgin Land, because the city provided the whole country with grain.
In 1992, the city was renamed again, now Akmola, which means “White Shrine” or “White Grave”. The decision to change the name was made because there was a settlement of the same name not far from the city, which was located on the top of the limestone ridge of white color. A local Kipchak Niyaz-bi, who was deeply worshiped by Abylay Khan, is buried on the top of this mountain.
The city was called Akmola until 1997, and then, by decree of the first president of Kazakhstan - Nursultan Nazarbaev, was named Astana, which is translated as "capital".
On March 23, 2019, the new president of Kazakhstan, Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev, signed a decree on renaming Astana to Nur-Sultan. The city received the name Nur-Sultan in honor of the first President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev.