Astana: The Futuristic Capital of Kazakhstan

In the 18th century Tsar Peter the Great built and proclaimed St. Petersburg as his new capital to show Europe how modern and powerful the Russian empire had become.



More than 200 years later, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazerbayev moved his capital city from Almaty to Astana — and the political statement was no less meaningful.



If architecture is the incarnation of ideas, one could say that Astana symbolizes the rise of a Eurasian power wishing to show the whole world its huge — but as yet unrealized — potential.



The result? A rapidly expanding, futuristic city, lost in the immensity of the Kazakh steppe.